Recovery for Cato

If you are reading this, thank you.

My name is Rachel, and I am doing this on behalf of my sister Kat, and her doggo Cato.

I would just like to mention before I begin, that my family and I are not the type to do this. We find a way to handle sh*t without asking for outside help. But this is different. We are doing this for Cato. And money does not come out of thin air.

On Thursday, September 15th, my sister was out taking her dog on a walk where he gave chase to one of the dozens of bunnies in the area. This is nothing unusual, Cato is a hunting breed and my sister Kat safely allows him to engage once in a while off leash on the acre of property she is on in northern NH. If you have a hunting breed, or know what the Dogo Argentino is like, you know they are like an arrow that doesn’t miss the target. He took off, and chased the bunny into a family member’s property just next door and under their deck, catching his lower back on the way out. He is a strong dog and continued his chase. When all was done, my sister began to notice he was not walking right. She brought him to the ER and they chalked it up to a muscle pull. In her gut she had a feeling it was worse than that, but she went with their professional opinion. They sent her home and told her to watch out for Cato dragging his toes. Which is what exactly happened. Cato was starting to lose function of his back legs. She returned to the same ER where they then recommended she go to a well known clinic in Woburn, MA. By now it’s late Friday night and she is making the 2 hour drive down. When she arrives to our mom’s house, we were immediately heart broken to see that Cato can no longer walk at all. He is still excited to see us and has been such a champ this whole process.

This morning, Kat and my mom take him to the clinic for an MRI and we learn that it he has a broken disc in his spine and it is leaking fluid, causing other discs around it to dehydrate. We knew from the beginning this was urgent, but we were not expecting to hear that. The neuro team didn’t even finish the MRI before they called her because they saw it right away and surgery needed to happen ASAP.

There is a 90% chance that Cato will make a full recovery with some physical therapy after he heals. There is also a risk he could break the disc again, and be back at square one.

He will no longer be free to do his zoomies, or chase squirrels, or jump off of boulders on a hike. My sister can no longer let him be himself after this, and we are heartbroken for that too. She spends most of her free time hiking and exploring with Cato, and now that is forever changed.

Cato is only 5 years old, and he is her everything. He is loved deeply by all of us and he deserves this fighting chance. We refuse to give up on him. He has a strong will to live and we are hopeful he can make it through this. My sister needs support both financially, emotionally and spiritually. She dedicates her life to helping dogs feel good and be well cared for. To see Cato like this has absolutely shattered her. If you are a pet owner, you know how this feels.

Any amount will be helpful as it is one dollar closer to covering the bill for the medical attention he needs. And if you can’t donate, we understand, just please pray for Kat and Cato, and please share our Go Fund Me.

Update 9/20/22

Cato has had his surgery and is in recovery. The surgery needed to happen ASAP to save his life. A lot of debt was created to get this done. Please continue to support us by sharing and donating if you are in a position to do so. ❤️‍