Hey everyone! I am Alex, Zeus's fur-mommy. You all will know us from our IG account, titan_zeus_andtheirmomma =)

I am to the point of desperately needing help to pay for the remaining $2,000 of Zeus's last ICU stay on Thanksgiving and upcoming appointments - he is seen every 5 weeks with February being his big one that cardiology will be involved in.

Here's our story if you are new to hearing about my sweet Zeusy boy!

 

Zeus just turned 6 in July and 2021 has been beyond unkind and unfair to him. He was diagnosed with Addison's Disease in May of 2019 and it has been well managed since then. On March 11, 2021, I took Zeus outside to go potty and he wasn't acting right. Within a few minutes, I knew I had to get him to the ER immediately. He had to have emergency surgery for bloat and torsion. After his surgery, he remained in ICU and he was starting to go into an Addison's crisis. While in ICU, the doctors happened to notice that the left side of his heart was enlarged and was in afib and wanted to have him come back a few weeks later for a follow up with cardiology; he was also started on Pimobendan for his heart and diagnosed with early onset of DCM. March 13, 2021 Zeus was discharged home and I knew something wasn't right. The next 24 hours were basically a blur because I tried everything I could to help him get comfortable and tried to feed him anything and everything and he wasn't having it. Around 11am on the 14th, he went to lay on the couch but then couldn't get comfortable and looked bloated again so back to the ER we went. He was readmitted to ICU and they removed 7L of green free fluid from his stomach through a tube in his nose. He was discharged on March 17th and thankfully he was acting a lot more comfortable. On April 16th, Zeus has his appointment with cardiology. Initially, his heart was considered very mildly enlarged but at his appointment, he was now in the severely enlarged category and we were told that if wasn't if but when Zeus would go into heart failure. May 21st he had a follow up and everything was looking good. July 1st, he had his follow up with internal medicine for labs and to get his zycortal shot for his addisons disease which he gets every 4-5 weeks. On July 1st, which was also his birthday, he looked great and everything seemed great. Unfortunately, 6 days later on July 7th, I had to rush Zeus back to the ER because he was trying to lay down to go to bed and he couldn't get comfortable and looked bloated again. He was then admitted to ICU yet again and this time he had flipped into full left sided heart failure and had aspiration pneumonia. We weren't sure if he was going to make it because all his doctors kept saying was how sick of a boy he was. Only July 10th, the day of my grandmothers funeral, a miracle happened. Around 1am, Zeus all of a sudden started to improve and we were able to bring him home that evening. This was the beginning of a LOT of life long medications that Zeus was going to need. July 16th he had a follow up with cardiology and they confirmed that he was in heart failure but was still running a slight fever and his aspiration pneumonia was still present. July 30th we went to see cardiology again and they placed him with another 24 hour holter monitor. On September 3rd, we lost our English Mastiff, Titan, because of Wobblers and it shattered our house. We were most concerned about how Zeus was going to handle the loss of his brother because of his heart and his addisons. A week later, Zeus had what his doctor believes was a seizure (first and only one, knock on wood). Many more follow appointments but all were good. On October 15th, we brought home a new little English Mastiff sister, Remi, and Zeus has seemed to be thrilled, for the most part, to be a big brother. Everything had been going well and then at 10:30pm on Thanksgiving, I had to rush Zeus to the ER again and he was admitted to ICU. He was trying to vomit and couldn't and he couldn't get comfortable. He was in ICU for almost 4 days. This was the most worried his doctor has been about him surviving and she really didn't know if he would be able to pull through this time. Everything was basically failing and then once again, all of a sudden after we left seeing him for the day, everything began improving which shocked his entire medical team. His heart medication was increased and that seems to have been what the issue was. His heart was getting slightly worse and he just needed some extra help.

We unfortunately do not have pet insurance and so far, since March of this year, we have spent around $40,000 --- yes, you read that correctly --- out of pocket. Honestly, if it weren't for IG, I don't know what we would have done but he is my baby boy and I will continue to do whatever I need to for him to live a happy and comfortable life.

Whether you can donate a little or lot or just share our story, anything is greatly appreciated!

I hated to ask for help but I am officially out of options and Zeus has fought so hard and I don't want his care to suffer because of the lack of funds.

Love to you all!

The McBride Family