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For over two years, my partner Margot and I have been lucky enough to be the caretakers of a beautiful, nervous, sweet, heavy mutt called Kaia. She is a playful, snuggly girl who loves licking faces, chasing squirrels (that she never catches), getting belly rubs, running in circles at breakneck speed, and climbing into laps too small to accommodate her.
Last week, Kaia suffered an injury in her mouth while playing outside: a stick pierced her mouth under her tongue, with the end of the stick snapping off inside. We did not realize the extent of her injury at first; Kaia is enormously tough and has a high pain tolerance, so she seemed quite normal. However, her condition deteriorated over the next couple days.
"Zzzz..."
An early vet visit didn't find a conclusive reason why she had become lethargic and unwilling to drink or eat, but when her throat became inflamed and her breathing labored, we took Kaia to the local vet hospital. After hours of anxious waiting, a tearful goodbye to our pup, and multiple examinations and scans, the doctors located the stick point that had lodged in her body and the infected abscess around it. She needed hospitalization, antibiotics, and surgery, or she would likely die. We confirmed we wanted to do everything possible to save Kaia, and the doctors got to work.
"This is fine."
The good news: the immediate danger has passed, and Kaia is doing well now. The doctors removed the wood, drained the wound, and gave her painkillers and antibiotics. The infection didn't clear as quickly as they hoped, and she developed a urinary tract infection while hospitalized, both of which necessitated a lengthier stay than we anticipated. However, as of today, she is home -- weakened, freshly stitched-up, in need of supervision and more medication, but happy and excited to be home.
The bad news, for us humans: the bill. While we could not put a price tag on our dog's health, unfortunately the vet has to. Kaia's total treatment -- hospitalization, sedation, exams, surgery, drugs -- has so far added up to nearly $5,000. With luck, that number will not increase, but between two infections and trying to get an active dog to not rip her stitches out, we won't be completely out of the woods for a while.
Kaia's health is our first priority, and we did not hesitate to commit our resources to save her, but we underestimated how much a pet emergency would cost, and we do not have unlimited savings. While we were privileged enough that we did not have to make the heartbreaking decision to forego her life-saving surgery, we are now in a financially precarious situation.
We are hoping that our family and friends (and, perhaps, strangers on the internet who just think our dog is cute) might be able to chip in a little to help us and our large furry baby get to a more stable place. We don't expect to hit the full $5,000 here -- I know it's a bad time of year to be asking, and there are many other worthy causes out there, including many other worthy dogs -- but if you have even just a little to spare, we would be immensely grateful.
"Belly rub plz."
Last week, Kaia suffered an injury in her mouth while playing outside: a stick pierced her mouth under her tongue, with the end of the stick snapping off inside. We did not realize the extent of her injury at first; Kaia is enormously tough and has a high pain tolerance, so she seemed quite normal. However, her condition deteriorated over the next couple days.
"Zzzz..."An early vet visit didn't find a conclusive reason why she had become lethargic and unwilling to drink or eat, but when her throat became inflamed and her breathing labored, we took Kaia to the local vet hospital. After hours of anxious waiting, a tearful goodbye to our pup, and multiple examinations and scans, the doctors located the stick point that had lodged in her body and the infected abscess around it. She needed hospitalization, antibiotics, and surgery, or she would likely die. We confirmed we wanted to do everything possible to save Kaia, and the doctors got to work.
"This is fine."The good news: the immediate danger has passed, and Kaia is doing well now. The doctors removed the wood, drained the wound, and gave her painkillers and antibiotics. The infection didn't clear as quickly as they hoped, and she developed a urinary tract infection while hospitalized, both of which necessitated a lengthier stay than we anticipated. However, as of today, she is home -- weakened, freshly stitched-up, in need of supervision and more medication, but happy and excited to be home.
The bad news, for us humans: the bill. While we could not put a price tag on our dog's health, unfortunately the vet has to. Kaia's total treatment -- hospitalization, sedation, exams, surgery, drugs -- has so far added up to nearly $5,000. With luck, that number will not increase, but between two infections and trying to get an active dog to not rip her stitches out, we won't be completely out of the woods for a while.
Kaia's health is our first priority, and we did not hesitate to commit our resources to save her, but we underestimated how much a pet emergency would cost, and we do not have unlimited savings. While we were privileged enough that we did not have to make the heartbreaking decision to forego her life-saving surgery, we are now in a financially precarious situation.
We are hoping that our family and friends (and, perhaps, strangers on the internet who just think our dog is cute) might be able to chip in a little to help us and our large furry baby get to a more stable place. We don't expect to hit the full $5,000 here -- I know it's a bad time of year to be asking, and there are many other worthy causes out there, including many other worthy dogs -- but if you have even just a little to spare, we would be immensely grateful.
"Belly rub plz."