Keep Margeaux Healthy and Loved

Margeaux (Margot), affectionately known as 'little tank' by her Internal Medicine specialist, is our 13-year-old Rat Terrier who has been through it all. While in grad school, we rescued her from being dog fighting bait while just a couple of months old. Since then, she has stolen our hearts and has been a grounding force in our lives. Margeaux was also extremely bonded with our other pup, Eli (made stronger upon finding out they were blood cousins through genetic testing), who passed away at the tender age of 18 last June.

What many people don't know is that the same day we had to let go of Eli, we had to take Margeaux to the emergency vet only 4 hours later due to concerning symptoms and behaviors.

After weeks of specialty testing, Margeaux was diagnosed with Cushing's Disease - both adrenal and pituitary - which is quite rare. We spent the summer and early fall getting her regulated and as stable as possible, which often required expensive weekly and monthly ACTH Stim testing along with abdominal ultrasound, blood work, and urine sampling. And just when we thought we were getting her stable, she was additionally diagnosed with diabetes at the end of October 2024. In November, she required multiple trips to the ER to prevent the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis as it took her a while to get regulated with insulin. We learned that often, dogs with Cushing's develop diabetes. Margeaux also recently developed cataracts in both her eyes (due to her Diabetes), making it difficult for her to see clearly, if at all.

Since then, we have been trying our best to manage both diseases. For the most part, she was doing okay, until about two weeks ago. Very unexpectedly and quickly, Margeaux almost died. She stopped eating and drinking, her blood pressure dropped dramatically, she was consistently hyperglycemic even when given insulin, and she started to vomit. We had to take her to the ER and were able to manage her until her Internal Medicine team could see her. She was diagnosed with severe pancreatitis. Luckily, we were able to catch it in time, but she had to spend the night in the ICU, which alone was $3.5k. It did save her life, and we have been helping her to recover at home. My dad is starting to refer to her as the 'Rasputin of dogs.'

Since Margeaux's initial care beginning June 29th, 2024, we have spent close to $13k on veterinary visits for testing and emergency care. This doesn't even cover her medications, of which we all pay out of pocket - the specialized insulin, for example, costs us $220 per month. Margeaux means so much to our entire family, especially in light of losing Eli last year.

We know that Margeaux has so much strength left in her, and we are giving her the best care that she deserves. She is worth it to our family and to all of the lives that she has touched. We are doing our best to provide a good quality of life for Margeaux and your donation, no matter how big or small, will go directly towards her existing medical bills.

We would appreciate any little help to keep her alive.