Honoring Dolly Barkin: A Beloved Companion - Kidney Research

Hello everyone,

My name is Nathan and I am reaching out to not only help raise funds for awareness and a cure for Kidney Disease in our beloved pets but to ask for a bit of help for me to cover the unexpected costs of the hospital bills for my 6yr old baby girl Dolly Barkin ( Bernese Mountain Dog ) who passed who we had to lay to rest due to rapid kidney failure on 7/28/25 but to also provide support to those whoa re doing the work and research to help find a cure or solution to dogs fighting the same issues.

A little back story on Dolly Barkin. I was looking for another pup to add to our Family as it was just myself and my other Pup, Meeko who is now a 7yr old Bernese Mountain Dog. I came across an ad for a family in the Springs who was looking to relocate their 4yr old Bernese Mountain Dog due to them finding out that their 2 small children were allergic to the dander. We ended up meeting with the family and Dolly Barkin and after a week and a half, I received a call from the Family and they let me know that they thought that we were the best fit for their beloved Dolly Barkin and I can honestly say that she was a God Send and one of the most amazing pups I have ever had.

Over the last year and a half, we have been on so many adventures, hiking trips, mountain adventures even to the beach in Texas. All of the ball chases, tug of wars and chasing bunnies, you talk about an amazing pup that brought so much joy and love into the lives of everyone she met. She was so loving and always loved attention

This was a major blow to not only me, but my other pup Meeko who is also feeling the effects of losing his sister as well. Dolly started to shows light signs of not eating as much the week of 7/14 but she had done that in the past. She was still being her normal self all that week and Friday when we left for an event in Leadville, Co for the week, Sunday is when I started to see a decline in her behavior and her stomach are was more sensitive to the touch and she was moving a little slower.

She was still eating at this point and drinking plenty of water, but you could tell something was off. Monday went better but Tuesday she was more lethargic, so we went to the VET to get her checked out and get blood work done, Wednesday we got the results that here CREA and BUN levels were through the roof which is never a good thing to hear. Basically, this meant that here kidneys had already shut down and not getting rid of the toxins in here body which were causing other complications including mouth ulcers which was making here not want to eat. Was able to get her a little medicine to help alleviate the pain make here a little more comfortable.

We got back into town on Saturday and that evening we went into the Vet hospital to get her levels checked out again, we ended up getting blood work done as well as an IV to help here rehydrate and get the essential nutrients back into her system. Saturday evening she was doing good, and into Sunday afternoon she was looking a bit better and acting more so on the normal side. It wasn't until about 9pm when she started to show signs of pain and you could just see it in here eyes that she was struggling. Her breathing had worsened, she was coughing more excessively, and her ulcers had started to bleed.

We wanted to spend as much time as possible with her and it was about 11pm, when we made the decision to head back to the hospital and talk to the doctors once again. The info that was provided was that her kidneys had fully shut down and they were having to dilute her blood 5 times to even get an accurate reading. At this time, we just wanted Dolly to be at ease and comfortable. As he breathing continued to get worse, I had my buddy and Meeko there with us so that we could support and be there for Dolly all the way through. At 12:32am, Dolly Barkin took her last breath and it was one of the most heartbreaking and painful things I have ever had to go through and 100%, it felt as if I was losing a child. She was

My Goal is to raise as much as possible to help me cover the unexpected bills and then donate everything over that back to AKC for their Kidney and Bladder Health Research Center so that they can continue to help fight the cause and hopefully find a cure to help alleviate kidney failure disease so that other pet owners can have more preparedness when they find out that their pup children have kidney or bladder disease.

This would mean the absolute world to me right now to help ease the burden of vet bills and get financially caught up, but to spread the word and fight against Kidney Disease in our pets who as we all know are more than just pets, they are our Children as we always do more for them than we typically do for ourselves, I know I definitely do.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated with this and I want to thank all of you that have commented on my FB posts regarding Dolly Barkin, the love and support during this time have absolutely meant the world to me, more than you will ever know.

Below is the Link for the AKC Kidney and Bladder Health Research Center for you to review. My goal as mentioned, is to donate as much as I possibly can and if we raise more, to donate anything we get over the amount for the Bills to donate back to the AKC Kidney and Bladder Research Center.

AKC Kidney & Bladder Health Research

Here are pictures of Dolly Barkin