Help Cadence Live Her Best Life!

Asking for help is hard, asking for help to care for someone you love is only slightly easier and right now Tara and her service dog Cadence need our help. Tara posted her own fundraiser on the Runamuck K9 page to help raise funds, but there are only so many leashes that can be made in a short period of time - we also know many of you asked if you didn't need a leash, how you could help. Here it is!

The past year has been a tough one for Cadence (and in turn Tara) – but we finally have answers and a path forward.

Tara knows Cadence better than anyone. Something was off, there were a ton of diagnostics, visits to her rehab vet (kind of like physio for dogs) in Squamish and trying to unriddle her – she had a couple of instances of screaming pain that were so extreme we’d thought she’d broken a bone – but then they stopped as quick as they started. Every single test was coming up empty. Ultimately, an MRI was ordered – unlike us fortunate human Canadians, these are not free for dogs. Her 5.5 hours in the MRI machine and subsequent lab work to rule out viral causes came to over $7.5K.

The MRI gave us answers. Some good news – not a speck of cancer in this 8.5-year-old golden (which is shocking as most goldens eventually fall prey to it). The bad news, she has intervertebral disk disease and one of her disks (between the vertebrae that join her head, neck, shoulders and legs) is in really rough shape and causing her a great deal of pain. Rest assured, she’s been on “desk duty” and on pain meds since this all began and Tara and the vets are managing her pain as long as she’s kept quiet and little is asked of her.

All the vets involved agree she needs surgery on her spine. The estimate is $5-$8K but based on the track record of costs to date, we know it’s safe to assume it will be at the high end.

I know some of you will read this and say put her down – that this is ridiculous – she’s just a dog. But THIS dog is so much more and (other than this one big thing) she is still a happy, healthy, fit dog that loves life and her people.

In addition to her monumental impact on Tara’s life and independence, she also produced 27 beautiful puppies that are out changing lives across North America – some of them producing more incredible assistance dogs. Some of you have her kids or grandkids and have living proof each day of just how amazing she is.

Her vets feel like she’s an excellent candidate for this surgery. She could easily have another 4-6 years with us. That’s a lot of years and love and life to miss out on. She has worked so hard, she has given her everything to countless others, especially Tara – even now on “desk duty” she still tries to do her skills despite her pain.

**Giving up on her now just isn’t an option and if you disagree and feel she isn’t worth this, PLEASE for all that is holy just use the scroll bar and move on – this is hard enough.**

She will continue to be at Tara’s side in her blue vest as we get her used to the idea of retirement and staying alone for increasing amounts of time after most of her life with people 24/7 – this gradual transition is essential to her well-being. This surgery is NOT to extend her career, it’s to relieve her pain. Once she goes for surgery, her working career will end. She will need to rest and recover, and in some ways, the recovery period will hopefully ease her into the life of leisure and spoiling she so deserves (with Tara and Matthew).

What you may not realize is that PADS clients like Tara, take on responsibility for all vet and food costs when they are matched with them – these are usually estimated at $2-3K a year for food and vet care. Tara budgets for this each month but that amount was gone before Easter. The PADS client care and medical teams have been utterly extraordinary support through this ordeal. They helped with emergency funds last month to ensure Cadence didn’t have to wait for the care she needs, and so that Tara could focus on making good decisions and supporting her – but these need to be repaid, so they are there for the next client in such a difficult spot.

Tara has personally spent over $4K in the last 8 months and PADS fronted the diagnostic cost ($7.5K) which leads us to today… surgery in mid-September will take the total to close to $20K. Tara simply can’t afford this as a single woman living in this expensive part of the world. If more is raised than the procedure costs for Cadey you can rest assured the surplus will go to help top up the PADS Emergency Fund which has had some heavy hits this year.

We also know that many hands make light work – if every person that follows Cadey on social media gave just $10 we would hit our goal and give Tara and Cadence one less thing to worry about in this tough time.

Know that whether you can give $5 or fiftybagillion, or share her story so others can help, we know CadeyK (and us/Tara) will be sending you so much love and gratitude.

Thank you for helping us give this extraordinary dog the care she needs to live her best life.