Liam's Emergency Bladder Surgery

Yesterday morning when I came home from work and went outside to see Liam, he was throwing up and could barely stay on his feet. I'd seen him throw up from eating grass before, but the look he gave me was heart wrenching. I know dogs communicate with body language, but I've always called Liam an old soul because of how communicative he is with his eyes.



I knew something was wrong. I felt like he was confused and scared by the pain he was in. I knelt down and he weakly walked over to me and pressed his head against my chest. I knew he was really sick and needed help right away, so I called into work and took my baby to the vet.

Ordinarily he hates car rides (he used to get motion sickness), but he carefully climbed in the back for me when I opened the door. He vomited the last of his stomach contents (mostly water) into the back seat, so I had to usher him out so I could clean it up and gather a sample in case he was poisoned by something. Liam is such a smart boy though. I knew it wasn't that, even though I acknowledged it was a possibility. In the past, he's actually brought things to me to dispose of that could have killed him, like shards of beer bottles that the neighbors somehow flung over our wall. 

At the veterinary office, Liam drank from the sink, and he drank a lot. I thought this was a good sign because he was so dehydrated from all that vomiting. But he couldn't keep any of it down.



Dr. Malo examined him and said something was definitely wrong with his bladder. I paid for Liam's ($500+) x-rays using a credit card and prayed. Kawika and I waited in the lobby until the x-rays were developed, and the doctor showed them to us, pointing out a bladder stone blocking his urethra. 




And the doctor told us he couldn't perform the surgery to remove it, then referred us to a specialist. I signed up for Care Credit, but my account has a 3500 limit. The specialist in Irvine kept Liam over night and inserted a catheter into his urethra. They had us put down a $900 deposit, which was supposed to go onto my Care Credit account, but Care Credit wouldn't give me my full account number because they told me I have to wait ten days to receive it in the mail. I'm still trying to sort that out. 

This afternoon I received an update: They found stones in Liam's bladder. They need to perform surgery. According to the doctor, male dogs have a really hard time passing stones, so he'd likely end up in the same situation if we don't do it. The new estimate is $7500-8000 with the surgery on top of everything else we've already signed up for. I know I can't afford this and it might take me years to pay off, but I could really use your help.

Please, if you can donate anything at all, please help me save my baby.