Nigel's Recovery Fund

Hello all - Chelsea, Bobby, and Nigel here.

When I came home from work on Friday, our sweetest boy was laying on the ground. Which, was not too unusual, except that he wasn't responsive to most things he typically would jump right up for (opening the closet where his food and leash are, opening a bag of cheese, opening the treat drawer). When he finally started moving around, I realized that he was limping severely and couldn’t walk more than a couple of steps without falling down again.

Only one vet could see us immediately and it was an emergency vet. We went in thinking it was a fracture or a sprain, but he ended up having a fever and the x-ray showed that there was swelling and lots of fluid surrounding his joint and in his paw. We were also told that he would need to stay the night so they could start testing the next morning and monitor his fever and other symptoms overnight. The one-night stay turned into a three-night stay as they tried to narrow down what was wrong with him (3 joint taps for analysis and culture to find a potential trigger, urine analysis, and so much bloodwork).

Nigel was able to come home Monday night, and at this time they believe he has septic arthritis (meaning bacteria is present in the joint itself; which can be from a wound over the joint even if none are visible, or the spread of bacteria from other areas in the body). He was sent home with 5 different medications that he will have to take until the culture from the joint taps come back and hopefully diagnose the cause of this; which could lead to a change in medications or could increase how long he will need to take them.

Nigel just turned four and this was something unexpected. We don’t know when he will be able to stop medications just yet, or how often Nigel will need to go back for check-ups. What we do know right now is that this was terrifying and stressful – much like any emergency is. His current vet bill is at $5,700, which is much more than what we can afford especially without knowing whether more treatment will be needed.

We know and understand that times are rough for so many right now, so if you are financially able to give even just a little we appreciate that. And if that isn’t something you can do, sharing this is also appreciated. All money received will go directly to paying off Nigel’s current vet bill.

Again, we appreciate anything and everything and appreciate all the love that has been sent Nigel's way already.