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Hi everyone! My name is Jennifer Crosby and I am writing asking, begging, to all of our friends and family who can to help chip in and donate anything, to help sweet little Olga get her life saving surgery to have a liver shunt put in. The surgery will cost roughly around 5k however she will still need many, many more follow up visits post surgery. The 5K also does not include her consultation with the surgeon and the ultrasound that she needs as well. To better understand Tiny Olga’s background and story please read what her mother, Ashley wrote after her most recent emergency Vet appointment. Ashley has been such an amazing friend and such a bright light to all who know her, please help if you can, thank you!
I owe everyone an update, as promised. I must warn you that this will be a very long post, but I feel I should provide all details and background to fully understand everything and once you read it to the end, it will all make sense, I hope. We brought Olga home on April 2nd, 2022. From the day we brought her home, we struggled to get her to eat. When I say we tried everything, we did. We bought so many kinds of dog foods, baby foods, anything that we thought she would eat, we got. We spent hundreds of dollars on food for her, for her to not want any parts of it. That’s not to brag but just to give an idea of what we all we tried. We’d find something we could get her to eat, and it would end up making her sick or she would get tired of it very quickly if you gave it to her more than a couple times in a row. She is a smart little booger too, she knew if something had made her sick before, that she wanted no parts of it again. It was a constant struggle. Dog food was an absolute no go for her. There was one canned dog food that she ended up eating for a few weeks that Sheryl McCart brought her while in NC and we thought she had turned a corner, but it was short lived; for her to once again turn her nose up to it. It was a constant struggle with her. This is no exaggeration when I say sometimes it took us trying 5-6 things, before she’d finally eat. I’ve never had a dog that was a picky eater or a sensitive stomach; so this was a huge curve ball and when I say she was extreme, she was. The vet made suggestions, none of which ever worked. On top of not getting her to eat very well, she got nauseated & struggled with indigestion on a regular basis. She could not sleep over it; we had many, many countless nights where she and I would be up ALL night long because she could not get settled because her stomach was bothering her so much. Nothing helped. I’m sure some of you remember my posts about how to get her to go to sleep and many suggested to leave her in another room. Although I would have loved to do that so I could sleep, I did not have the heart to do that to her. I knew she uncomfortable and I wouldn’t dare stick her in another room and leave her because of something she could not help. So fast forward to January 4th; we could not get Olga to eat anything we tried. She was becoming lethargic and very weak and spacey; definitely not herself. It was late, our vet was closed so we had no choice but to take her to the ER vet. We couldn’t go in with her. They examined her and diagnosed her with gastroenteritis basically. We explained to them how we couldn’t get her to eat and had struggled for months with it. They thought she maybe had a protein intolerance and suggested following up with our regular vet to get a referral to see a specialist. We had to wait to get in with our regular vet because over Christmas, it was so cold that their pipes burst and flooded the entire building. We finally got into see our vet; not really a lot came from that visit. She didn’t think it was a protein intolerance. She just thought she was being overly picky and had some sensitivities. Well after our visit, our vet called me and said she had been thinking about Olga and she actually thought she may have a liver shunt. Told us she could do a bile acid test where they would test her while fasting and then test her again after she ate but told us to wait until she had another flare up to bring her in. Well a flare up never happened. As crazy as this may sound, it was like as soon as we took her to the ER vet & regular vet, Olga said ok, I promise to eat now as long as you never take me back to the vet again. I’m not even joking; I swear to you it was the craziest thing how over night she basically started eating…. anything and everything we gave her. So assumed she was better or had outgrown this craziness and never had her tested. Come end of Feb, early March, we started having some issues with her getting constipated. It was horrible. Me and Wes would take turns staying up with her all night because she couldn’t sleep. This typically would happen at bare minimum once a week, sometimes multiple nights like this. It has been rough for her & us. We started giving her Metamucil daily with her meals, to keep her moving. Even with the Metamucil she still sometimes would get really backed up so we would give her milk of magnesia. We’ve been doing this since, and it’s been working. We learned that bananas were great for indigestion and that manuka honey was also amazing to help with gut health as well as indigestion; so, they were added to her daily diet. Everything was going pretty good up until it wasn’t, on Wednesday afternoon. She starts having loose stools and she never has loose stools – it was always the opposite if anything. This went on all evening and into the night. She got me up several times needing to go to the bathroom, the very last time we got up is when she passed a good bit of blood. I thought one of the other times we had gotten up, I possibly saw a tad bit of blood but I was half zombified and hoped I was just imagining it. Sure enough I wasn’t. She continued to pass blood, more blood than stool actually. I knew she had to get to the vet. I called as soon as they opened and they said bring her in and drop her off, we’ll work her in. Our vet is great to work us in when I say one is passing blood or mention pancreatitis. They know I’m not just saying that to get seen, with Otis’ history. So I drop her off, they take her back at 9:30. It was jammed packed in there. They said they’d call once the vet sees her. 12:00 rolled around and I hadn’t heard anything and was getting anxious to hear something. I finally caved at 12:55 and called. They first told me she was still on the board to be seen… and that didn’t sit too well with me. I said so she’s been in a kennel since 9:30 and nothing has been done with her?? She is a 5lb dog, passing blood and most likely dehydrated; none of those 3 things are a good combination for a tiny dog. She said well actually, hang on let me go check to see if they’ve given her any fluids. She came back and said the vet is in with her now and will be calling you shortly. Well by my clock, shortly came and went. I really was getting irritated. I was like what could be taking so long. Well around 3, the vet called. She says that Olga has colitis. She then asked me about Olga’s issues with constipation, I explained all that. She then said that they had found a few things going on with Olga. She first said they found whip worms; I said how did get those?? She said it’s environmental, could’ve gotten them from something she ate outside, like dirt. Well that made complete sense when she said dirt because she goes out on the deck looking to eat some dirt every day. We blow the deck off before we even let her out there but still yet, there must have been a speck of dirt she found some way, somehow. Then she says she also has tape worms. Again, I ask how she could get those and she asked me if Olga ever eats Lamb meat or venison meat. I said no to the venison but that she has eaten lamb meat but not for a couple months because we can’t find it in the stores anymore. She said typically it’s form the meat being raw or undercooked; well neither of those apply because she doesn’t eat raw meat and we boil all of the dogs meat so I don’t know how it would be undercooked. Still a little puzzled about that. All that explains the loose stools and her passing blood. Easily treatable. Now, for the update everyone has been waiting on. Our vet said that every Thursday they have a vet that comes to the clinic and does mobile ultrasounds. She just so happened to be there to see another patient yesterday. The vet that does the ultrasounds, Dr Cooper was walking thru the clinic and stumbled upon Olga. Our vet said she stopped and was going on and on about what a beautiful, tiny little puppy she was, and my vet said, well she’s actually not a puppy; she’s 1.5 years old. The other vet was shocked, couldn’t believe how incredibly tiny she was to be 1.5 years old. My vet proceeded to tell her all of Olga’s history and her eating problems she’s had and that we had discussed the possibility of her having a liver shunt.. She asked my vet, do you think the owner would mind if I did an ultrasound on her? I think this dog has a liver shunt due to her size; I will do it at no charge. She wanted to put her own mind at ease if Olga really had a liver shunt or not. My vet said well I don’t think she will, it’s at no charge. So she did the ultrasound and sure enough, she found a liver shunt. My vet said this happened all so fast, she didn’t have time to call and ask me if I minded or not but didn’t think I would and I obviously didn’t mind at all. Dr Cooper advised my vet of the findings and diagnosis and recommended Olga to be referred to a specialty clinic in Charlotte, CARE (Charlotte Animal Referral & Emergency.) She highly recommended their facility to treat Olga’s diagnosis. We talked about the diagnosis and course of treatment and unfortunately it will require surgery to correct. Our vet did labs on her that she said had significantly changed since January but definitely correlates with Dr Cooper’s diagnosis. She said her liver was starting to show signs that it was losing some of it’s function and also that Dr Cooper did mention that Olga’s liver is extremely tiny. That it was imperative that we act on this quickly because she feels like it’s effecting Olga more than we realize. I am so heartbroken that she has this but also that she needs surgery. I am, however, so incredibly thankful for Dr Cooper being in the clinic, spotting Olga & immediately noticing that she most likely has a liver shunt. My vet asked if I wanted her to set up the referral for Olga and I said absolutely. She said she would get it submitted last night, and she did. If Olga had not started passing blood, found out she had worms, this may have not been caught before it was too late. Although it sucks she had to get sick with something else to find this, it was actually a blessing in disguise. The stars aligned perfectly and just goes to show some things happen for a reason. So while I was busy getting irritated that I had not heard anything, this miracle was in the making. I told my vet to please send my thanks to Dr Cooper, I certainly appreciate her attentiveness as well as doing the ultrasound for Olga. So yesterday was a hard day getting that kind of news. Olga is our baby and we’ll do anything for her. Well not just her, the boys too. We don’t have favorites, but she is certainly something special to us with everything we’ve dealt with over the last year, we’re crazy over her and want her around for many, many more years to come. We have our vacation planned starting on the 9th. We had already started discussing that if the specialty vet can see her while we’re supposed to be gone and want to do surgery, we’d have to cancel our vacation and risk losing the money already paid just so Olga can get better. She comes first. Thankfully it didn’t come to that. The specialty vet called this morning and said they needed to set up a consultation for Olga with the internist and the first available appointment was November 2nd. I was a little bummed it was going to be that long before they could see her. I asked to be put on a waiting list. I asked her about the consult fee and ultrasound costs. She said $195 for the consult and that since Dr Cooper had done the ultrasound that most likely they would not need to do another ultrasound. She said that Dr Cooper is a very reputable vet and thought highly of and if she says Olga has a liver shunt, that’s all they need. She said your vet is also amazing and was so very thorough and detailed on Olga’s referral. I said well wont they want the images from the ultrasound? I said because they didn’t save them since it was really not a planned ultrasound and Olga wasn’t set up in her system to save results. She said oh, don’t worry your vet included all of Dr Coopers readings, reports and findings and that’s all we need. So once again Dr Cooper saved the day, that will save $300 alone. Just when you think my update is over, it’s not. So about an hour later, the specialty vet calls again. A different lady, saying she needs to set up a consult for Olga with the surgeon. I said, oh ok, well I guess I didn’t realize there were 2 consults. She said what do you mean? I told her I had already set one up earlier today. She looked it up and said yep and I don’t know it was done like that but you actually don’t need that, you need a consult with the surgeon instead and I can get you in much faster by doing a consult with the surgeon, do you want me to cancel the other appointment?? I said absolutely. She said first thing she has was Sept 18th. I was prepared for her to say sometime while we were gonna be on vacation… but nope, it’s the day after we get home and I had already scheduled to be off of work that day. I then asked her how long after a consult do they typically do surgery and she said 1-2 weeks. She looked at the calendar and said and Sept 27th is open that day and if you’d like, I will go ahead and schedule her surgery. I said yes absolutely! I had so many more questions that I had to keep myself from asking because we would’ve probably been on the phone the rest of the afternoon. Haha I did ask one more question and it was how long do they typically keep them with a surgery like this and she said usually 1-3 days typically. That was a relief to hear because I had read longer. She told me she would be sending me an email with some additional info on it and if I could think of anything else, just shoot her an email. I’ll try not bug this nice lady too much haha.. I’m sorry this is so long but I wanted everyone to know what exactly had been going on with Olga and even though I didn’t always make posts about her issues, we had been struggling for some time. This is a blessing in disguise and as much as I hate she has to have surgery; we want her better. I hate that we didn’t do the test in January but even if we would have, that wouldn’t have changed the outcome or diagnosis. I can’t beat myself up over that because I can assure you that if we would have thought there was really something wrong, we would’ve had it done. She pulled one over on us by making us think because she was eating, everything was now ok. I want to finish up with saying that I am so incredibly thankful for each and everyone’s comments, reaching out to me and all the support they’ve provided. I cannot put into words how much this means to me and how lucky we are to know such remarkable people. I don’t know that I’m worthy of all this, but I know Olga certainly is.
I owe everyone an update, as promised. I must warn you that this will be a very long post, but I feel I should provide all details and background to fully understand everything and once you read it to the end, it will all make sense, I hope. We brought Olga home on April 2nd, 2022. From the day we brought her home, we struggled to get her to eat. When I say we tried everything, we did. We bought so many kinds of dog foods, baby foods, anything that we thought she would eat, we got. We spent hundreds of dollars on food for her, for her to not want any parts of it. That’s not to brag but just to give an idea of what we all we tried. We’d find something we could get her to eat, and it would end up making her sick or she would get tired of it very quickly if you gave it to her more than a couple times in a row. She is a smart little booger too, she knew if something had made her sick before, that she wanted no parts of it again. It was a constant struggle. Dog food was an absolute no go for her. There was one canned dog food that she ended up eating for a few weeks that Sheryl McCart brought her while in NC and we thought she had turned a corner, but it was short lived; for her to once again turn her nose up to it. It was a constant struggle with her. This is no exaggeration when I say sometimes it took us trying 5-6 things, before she’d finally eat. I’ve never had a dog that was a picky eater or a sensitive stomach; so this was a huge curve ball and when I say she was extreme, she was. The vet made suggestions, none of which ever worked. On top of not getting her to eat very well, she got nauseated & struggled with indigestion on a regular basis. She could not sleep over it; we had many, many countless nights where she and I would be up ALL night long because she could not get settled because her stomach was bothering her so much. Nothing helped. I’m sure some of you remember my posts about how to get her to go to sleep and many suggested to leave her in another room. Although I would have loved to do that so I could sleep, I did not have the heart to do that to her. I knew she uncomfortable and I wouldn’t dare stick her in another room and leave her because of something she could not help. So fast forward to January 4th; we could not get Olga to eat anything we tried. She was becoming lethargic and very weak and spacey; definitely not herself. It was late, our vet was closed so we had no choice but to take her to the ER vet. We couldn’t go in with her. They examined her and diagnosed her with gastroenteritis basically. We explained to them how we couldn’t get her to eat and had struggled for months with it. They thought she maybe had a protein intolerance and suggested following up with our regular vet to get a referral to see a specialist. We had to wait to get in with our regular vet because over Christmas, it was so cold that their pipes burst and flooded the entire building. We finally got into see our vet; not really a lot came from that visit. She didn’t think it was a protein intolerance. She just thought she was being overly picky and had some sensitivities. Well after our visit, our vet called me and said she had been thinking about Olga and she actually thought she may have a liver shunt. Told us she could do a bile acid test where they would test her while fasting and then test her again after she ate but told us to wait until she had another flare up to bring her in. Well a flare up never happened. As crazy as this may sound, it was like as soon as we took her to the ER vet & regular vet, Olga said ok, I promise to eat now as long as you never take me back to the vet again. I’m not even joking; I swear to you it was the craziest thing how over night she basically started eating…. anything and everything we gave her. So assumed she was better or had outgrown this craziness and never had her tested. Come end of Feb, early March, we started having some issues with her getting constipated. It was horrible. Me and Wes would take turns staying up with her all night because she couldn’t sleep. This typically would happen at bare minimum once a week, sometimes multiple nights like this. It has been rough for her & us. We started giving her Metamucil daily with her meals, to keep her moving. Even with the Metamucil she still sometimes would get really backed up so we would give her milk of magnesia. We’ve been doing this since, and it’s been working. We learned that bananas were great for indigestion and that manuka honey was also amazing to help with gut health as well as indigestion; so, they were added to her daily diet. Everything was going pretty good up until it wasn’t, on Wednesday afternoon. She starts having loose stools and she never has loose stools – it was always the opposite if anything. This went on all evening and into the night. She got me up several times needing to go to the bathroom, the very last time we got up is when she passed a good bit of blood. I thought one of the other times we had gotten up, I possibly saw a tad bit of blood but I was half zombified and hoped I was just imagining it. Sure enough I wasn’t. She continued to pass blood, more blood than stool actually. I knew she had to get to the vet. I called as soon as they opened and they said bring her in and drop her off, we’ll work her in. Our vet is great to work us in when I say one is passing blood or mention pancreatitis. They know I’m not just saying that to get seen, with Otis’ history. So I drop her off, they take her back at 9:30. It was jammed packed in there. They said they’d call once the vet sees her. 12:00 rolled around and I hadn’t heard anything and was getting anxious to hear something. I finally caved at 12:55 and called. They first told me she was still on the board to be seen… and that didn’t sit too well with me. I said so she’s been in a kennel since 9:30 and nothing has been done with her?? She is a 5lb dog, passing blood and most likely dehydrated; none of those 3 things are a good combination for a tiny dog. She said well actually, hang on let me go check to see if they’ve given her any fluids. She came back and said the vet is in with her now and will be calling you shortly. Well by my clock, shortly came and went. I really was getting irritated. I was like what could be taking so long. Well around 3, the vet called. She says that Olga has colitis. She then asked me about Olga’s issues with constipation, I explained all that. She then said that they had found a few things going on with Olga. She first said they found whip worms; I said how did get those?? She said it’s environmental, could’ve gotten them from something she ate outside, like dirt. Well that made complete sense when she said dirt because she goes out on the deck looking to eat some dirt every day. We blow the deck off before we even let her out there but still yet, there must have been a speck of dirt she found some way, somehow. Then she says she also has tape worms. Again, I ask how she could get those and she asked me if Olga ever eats Lamb meat or venison meat. I said no to the venison but that she has eaten lamb meat but not for a couple months because we can’t find it in the stores anymore. She said typically it’s form the meat being raw or undercooked; well neither of those apply because she doesn’t eat raw meat and we boil all of the dogs meat so I don’t know how it would be undercooked. Still a little puzzled about that. All that explains the loose stools and her passing blood. Easily treatable. Now, for the update everyone has been waiting on. Our vet said that every Thursday they have a vet that comes to the clinic and does mobile ultrasounds. She just so happened to be there to see another patient yesterday. The vet that does the ultrasounds, Dr Cooper was walking thru the clinic and stumbled upon Olga. Our vet said she stopped and was going on and on about what a beautiful, tiny little puppy she was, and my vet said, well she’s actually not a puppy; she’s 1.5 years old. The other vet was shocked, couldn’t believe how incredibly tiny she was to be 1.5 years old. My vet proceeded to tell her all of Olga’s history and her eating problems she’s had and that we had discussed the possibility of her having a liver shunt.. She asked my vet, do you think the owner would mind if I did an ultrasound on her? I think this dog has a liver shunt due to her size; I will do it at no charge. She wanted to put her own mind at ease if Olga really had a liver shunt or not. My vet said well I don’t think she will, it’s at no charge. So she did the ultrasound and sure enough, she found a liver shunt. My vet said this happened all so fast, she didn’t have time to call and ask me if I minded or not but didn’t think I would and I obviously didn’t mind at all. Dr Cooper advised my vet of the findings and diagnosis and recommended Olga to be referred to a specialty clinic in Charlotte, CARE (Charlotte Animal Referral & Emergency.) She highly recommended their facility to treat Olga’s diagnosis. We talked about the diagnosis and course of treatment and unfortunately it will require surgery to correct. Our vet did labs on her that she said had significantly changed since January but definitely correlates with Dr Cooper’s diagnosis. She said her liver was starting to show signs that it was losing some of it’s function and also that Dr Cooper did mention that Olga’s liver is extremely tiny. That it was imperative that we act on this quickly because she feels like it’s effecting Olga more than we realize. I am so heartbroken that she has this but also that she needs surgery. I am, however, so incredibly thankful for Dr Cooper being in the clinic, spotting Olga & immediately noticing that she most likely has a liver shunt. My vet asked if I wanted her to set up the referral for Olga and I said absolutely. She said she would get it submitted last night, and she did. If Olga had not started passing blood, found out she had worms, this may have not been caught before it was too late. Although it sucks she had to get sick with something else to find this, it was actually a blessing in disguise. The stars aligned perfectly and just goes to show some things happen for a reason. So while I was busy getting irritated that I had not heard anything, this miracle was in the making. I told my vet to please send my thanks to Dr Cooper, I certainly appreciate her attentiveness as well as doing the ultrasound for Olga. So yesterday was a hard day getting that kind of news. Olga is our baby and we’ll do anything for her. Well not just her, the boys too. We don’t have favorites, but she is certainly something special to us with everything we’ve dealt with over the last year, we’re crazy over her and want her around for many, many more years to come. We have our vacation planned starting on the 9th. We had already started discussing that if the specialty vet can see her while we’re supposed to be gone and want to do surgery, we’d have to cancel our vacation and risk losing the money already paid just so Olga can get better. She comes first. Thankfully it didn’t come to that. The specialty vet called this morning and said they needed to set up a consultation for Olga with the internist and the first available appointment was November 2nd. I was a little bummed it was going to be that long before they could see her. I asked to be put on a waiting list. I asked her about the consult fee and ultrasound costs. She said $195 for the consult and that since Dr Cooper had done the ultrasound that most likely they would not need to do another ultrasound. She said that Dr Cooper is a very reputable vet and thought highly of and if she says Olga has a liver shunt, that’s all they need. She said your vet is also amazing and was so very thorough and detailed on Olga’s referral. I said well wont they want the images from the ultrasound? I said because they didn’t save them since it was really not a planned ultrasound and Olga wasn’t set up in her system to save results. She said oh, don’t worry your vet included all of Dr Coopers readings, reports and findings and that’s all we need. So once again Dr Cooper saved the day, that will save $300 alone. Just when you think my update is over, it’s not. So about an hour later, the specialty vet calls again. A different lady, saying she needs to set up a consult for Olga with the surgeon. I said, oh ok, well I guess I didn’t realize there were 2 consults. She said what do you mean? I told her I had already set one up earlier today. She looked it up and said yep and I don’t know it was done like that but you actually don’t need that, you need a consult with the surgeon instead and I can get you in much faster by doing a consult with the surgeon, do you want me to cancel the other appointment?? I said absolutely. She said first thing she has was Sept 18th. I was prepared for her to say sometime while we were gonna be on vacation… but nope, it’s the day after we get home and I had already scheduled to be off of work that day. I then asked her how long after a consult do they typically do surgery and she said 1-2 weeks. She looked at the calendar and said and Sept 27th is open that day and if you’d like, I will go ahead and schedule her surgery. I said yes absolutely! I had so many more questions that I had to keep myself from asking because we would’ve probably been on the phone the rest of the afternoon. Haha I did ask one more question and it was how long do they typically keep them with a surgery like this and she said usually 1-3 days typically. That was a relief to hear because I had read longer. She told me she would be sending me an email with some additional info on it and if I could think of anything else, just shoot her an email. I’ll try not bug this nice lady too much haha.. I’m sorry this is so long but I wanted everyone to know what exactly had been going on with Olga and even though I didn’t always make posts about her issues, we had been struggling for some time. This is a blessing in disguise and as much as I hate she has to have surgery; we want her better. I hate that we didn’t do the test in January but even if we would have, that wouldn’t have changed the outcome or diagnosis. I can’t beat myself up over that because I can assure you that if we would have thought there was really something wrong, we would’ve had it done. She pulled one over on us by making us think because she was eating, everything was now ok. I want to finish up with saying that I am so incredibly thankful for each and everyone’s comments, reaching out to me and all the support they’ve provided. I cannot put into words how much this means to me and how lucky we are to know such remarkable people. I don’t know that I’m worthy of all this, but I know Olga certainly is.
Organizer and beneficiary
Ashley Myers
Beneficiary