Please Help Save Buffy's Eyesight

Meet Buffy. She is a loving, sweet, playful, quirky, chatty little long-haired chihuahua. We rescued her eight years ago at the age of three, and she has been a loyal, snuggly sidekick ever since. She’s overall a happy and healthy girl, and we expect many, many more glorious years to come.

Coming to us as a rescue, Buffy looked like a funny little muppet with a host of issues. Found by the rescue organization in a dumpster behind a high-kill shelter, she was malnourished, had fleas, her teeth were a train-wreck, and she was pretty nervous but still very sweet. She has had some health issues over the years, all of which we have tackled head-on without regard for our pocketbooks (tens of thousands of dollars over the last year alone). She has mild pulmonary hypertension, for which we have a great cardiologist treating her. Her recent follow-up shows that she’s remained stable (mild-to-moderate), making it quite safe for her to undergo anesthesia. She also has collapsed trachea, common with smaller breeds like her, for which we have her on an effective treatment plan. And the poor baby has no more teeth left, the last few extracted about a year ago by a skilled dental surgeon—but that doesn’t stop her from eating her favorite foods—we just have to use a food processor on a few things for her.

Over the past year, as Buffy's right eye clouded, we began to look into treatment for it. Now her left eye is joining suit. The cloudy eyes have affected how extroverted Buffy can be, as she is afraid of what she can no longer see, and it has affected her ability to eat and take her meds because she is suspicious due to her loss of sight. It also seems to have lessened her quirky, peppy nature that we and everyone who knows her loves so much. And thanks to her not-so-good depth perception, she tends to bonk into things and sometimes misses the sofa when she tries to hop onto it.

This road led us to consult with some great ophthalmologists and surgeons, and we recently began to make preliminary plans for cataract surgery to fix Buffy's sight. But as we started to finalize plans for pre-surgery tests and the surgery itself, Erica was suddenly laid off from her job in a surprise round of mass layoffs. As she regroups and looks for a new job, this puts us in a tight spot: Do we hold off and wait for our financial situation to become more stable or forge ahead even though it’s an expensive procedure?

Since Buffy’s eye condition is a deteriorating situation, we don’t want to wait. This is her eyesight we’re talking about, and we’re afraid if we wait too long, we won’t be able to help her.

So we’re hoping you can help—in any little way possible. Buffy would appreciate any monetary help and shares with your social networks that you can provide. And her loving and devoted human parents, Erica and Greig, would also be eternally grateful. This little girl means the world to us. And especially after her rough start in life, Buffy deserves every ounce of happiness and comfort that we can provide for all of her days.