Iris Emergency Fund

On Saturday July 24th around 8:30pm, Iris' stitches came out from her spay that was done the Wednesday just before. As a simple, routine spay with no complications and all recommendations being followed afterwards, this was extremely unexpected. She had limited movement and activity and her e-collar was on the entire time. Every veterinarian that helped us in the state of this emergency was shocked that it happened as well.

Iris' stitches tore completely and her intestines and omentum were protruding from her abdomen. I held her still with her stomach against my legs while my partner called the clinic her spay was done at, whom did not leave any follow-up or emergency contact info with us, then once having no answer from them, proceeded to call his best friend's mother, a retired veterinarian.

She expressed to us the direness of the situation, and walked us through the steps to keep Iris stable until we could get her to a professional, which after calling around and getting many full clinics that could not take her, we finally found one that was nearly an hour away.

At just over a year old, I thought I was going to lose my baby that night.

It took three of us to get her to the Emergency Clinic in Cambridge, my Mother driving as I was too shook up, my partner holding her insides in place, and me doing my best to keep her calm and alert.

It was about an hour to stabilize her in Cambridge. They had to put her on oxygen, give her over a liter of fluid, clean her, and rewrap her. They did not have a vet on hand qualified enough to complete the required surgery, so called around and ended up getting her a spot in Toronto, nearly 2 more hours away.

They had to bring her back out to us on a gurney, wrapped in blankets as her temperature was dropping too rapidly while her body was processing the shock of it all. My mother and I held her this time while my partner drove, and we had the heat on full the entire way to Toronto to keep her stabilized.

When we finally got to Toronto they took her in on a gurney and I awaited their call to let me know if they could save her. They finally let me know when she was stable again that they had a surgeon coming in for an expedited emergency surgery and that she would be in the ICU for at least 24-48 hours.

We drove back home but I did not sleep.

At 3am I received a call that Iris was going into surgery.

Just before 4am I received a call that she was out of surgery. She had an exploratory laparotomy and expedited surgery to put her entire small intestine and omentum back into her body and to stitch her back up. I was informed by the surgeon that they used a more secure stitching pattern than the original spay surgeon had used. They also took bacterial cultures to check for infection, but the results will not be back yet for a couple days.

On Monday morning I received a call that she was recovering well and could come home. We drove 2 hours again to pick her up and 2 hours back home. She is currently on medication 5 times a day, for pain and antibiotics for any initial infection she may have and I am off work to supervise her as she cannot be left alone yet. I also noticed upon picking her up that they have given her a larger e-collar than the original clinic that did her spay.

I have registered a complaint with the original vet clinic, in great detail, and expressed that I am looking for compensation, at least for the price of her spay surgery, which they said was unlikely to happen but that they would pass my information on and someone would be in contact with me. I am expecting the least from them though, especially since they already know I refuse to take any of my pets back to their clinic.

I am so happy that Iris is home and alive, and I do hate reaching out and asking for help, but am hoping to recoup some of the debt that this traumatic experience has put me in. The goal of this gofundme is just the fees from the emergency clinics, 800 in Cambridge and 7,700 in Toronto. This does not include her original spay bill at all, and honestly any amount of this goal raised is immensely helpful and appreciated.

I will update this page as best I can with the results of her bacterial cultures and her follow-up appointment that happens in 2 weeks, once again in Toronto. I would not wish this on anyone, my pets are my babies and though she is safe now, I keep replaying the events of Saturday night in my head. Something as simple as a routine spay should never have ended up so traumatizing, not just for us, but for Iris as well. She has been so brave.

Thank you again to everyone for their support in this time.