Rufio needs your help!

UPDATE: JULY 10TH

RUFIO IS HOME! GO FUND ME CLOSED!

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED, I AM FOREVER GRATEFUL!

I just got home from picking him up, Rufio is very tired, and unfortunately, he has to be separated from Bronson until his LEPTO results are in, so he's not thrilled about that lol But he is home! His liver values didn't come down as much as we would have hoped overnight, but seeing as he was brighter today and now starting to bark at the staff when ignored, lol They felt it was time and better for his recovery to be discharged. Because his values are so high he will be on a fair bit of medication for the next 30 days (maybe more depending) excluding the , which will be for life. At the end of the week he will go to his regular vet for a recheck of his values; I am really hoping there will be more improvement by then. He'll likely need another re-check 2-3 weeks from that visit and then resume every 6 months, as he's already been doing.

He's been coughing/clearing his throat slightly, but I'm sure that's from all the meds he's been getting daily/twice daily. I'm sure he has a sore throat, poor guy. Hopefully, in the next few days, he sleeps really well and decompresses from the stress of being in emerg for 3 days; I know he's going to hate being in quarantine, but hopefully, he won't need to be isolated for more than a day or two. A happy brother reunion will have to wait lol

Due to the Rogers fiasco on Friday, the clinic is still dealing with some hiccups and couldn't finalize my bill today, but the receptionist said the "admin girls" will give me a call tomorrow to work that out. I don't know the exact final amount yet, but I am guessing the final total for the 3 days at AHP, plus all the take-home medication... will probably sit around the $4,200-$4,300 range. So the extra money can now be used for Rufio's upcoming re-check appointments, and if his LEPTO results are positive, then this will mean Bronson will need to get a LEPTO test as well. So whatever is left over from Rufio's appointments, I can put towards Bronson's LEPTO test. This is such a HUGE help to me; you have no idea.....

A MASSIVE THANK YOU again to everyone who donated, reached out, and shared this campaign. Rufio would very likely not be home today if it weren't for all of you, forever greatful to you for saving my dog <3

I will continue to post progress updates on his social media on how he is doing and upcoming vet appointments; again, thank you so much!

Love Stephanie + Rufio

-

Second UPDATE JULY 9TH 7:30PM

Hi everyone, so the vet was finally able to call me with todays update. Rufio is continuing to do very well, he's now had two decent meals today and has kept it down (they are only offering small amounts every 6 hrs so his tummy can slowly adjust to taking in food. His liver values have dropped but they are still relatively high, to give you some perspective as to what we were dealing with.... Rufios ATL was 105 this past December; the normal range is between 10-125. Rufios ALT on Thursday's blood work was at 5449, that is ridiculously and dangerously high! It dropped down to the 3000's at yesterday's recheck, and today's recheck, it's in the 2000s. So wayyyy better then Thursdays report, but compared to his 105 range, it's still very high. So because of that, it's in Rufios best interest to stay there 1 more night on supportive care to see if we can get those values down even further.

I was also able to get more information regarding management care post-hospitalization and what that will look like for him..... he will come home with a few medications, most will just be for a few days to a few weeks. However, one of these medications he will, unfortunately, need to be on for life. This medication is for the bit of sludge that was found in his gallbladder when they did the ultrasound (this is the first stage before it becomes a mucus plug in the gallbladder). The first hospital was concerned about a mucus plug; mucus plugs in the gallbladder are life-threatening and require immediate surgery. This is why he was transferred to Animal Health Partners for an emergency ultrasound; surgery for this has a 50/50 survival rate. This was a big reason why I panicked Thursday night and sobbed like a baby in my video update, when I was given that update that it might be that and that he'd maybe need to have risky life saving surgery, I PANICKED. Very grateful we dodged that stress *phew*

Where was I? Right, medication lol This medication prevents the sludge in the gallbladder from solidifying, and causing a mucus plug. And we really don't want anything in the gallbladder solidifying!

After being discharged, he will also need to go to his regular vet 5-7 days later for a follow up and re-check of his liver values. Depending on what those values are, he might need to be re-checked in the following few weeks again. And then every 6 months after that (which I already did regardless, when his blood work from 2 years ago showed that his liver ALP was just the teeniest bit high)

So due to the additional night at the ER (which will include the continued supportive care and repeat blood work to check those liver values) I am looking at an extra $800-$1000. Than, with the needed post-hospitalization check-ups at our vets, I am opening up the campaign again to hopefully raise a bit more. A bit thank you again to everyone who has donated and shared so far, ya'll are angels xo

Love Stephanie + Rufio

-

UPDATE JULY 9TH

Hi everyone, thank you so much for your patience in this update. I'm sure you are all aware of the absolute shit show that was yesterday with Rogers being down, what an absolute nightmare. I wasn't able to get into gofund me to edit until now, it kept asking for a verification code error. I finally just resolved the issue. YAY! I want to say a MASSIVE heart-felt THANK YOU to everybody who reached out with concern and well wishes for my little floof, many of whom we've never met and just "know" eachother through instagram. THANK YOU for the shares and for the very generous donations; you folks are literal angels <3 I've closed the campaign as I am sure enough has been raised. My deposit at Animal Health Partners was 85% of the highest estimate, which came to $6,578.52. The low estimate came to $4,412.29....so since the campaign basically reached the low estimate, I closed in case some of my $6,500 deposit will be refunded at his discharge. If more money is needed, I will reconsider reopening the campaign.

Now for the important update that I know, you are all waiting for, how is Rufio?! I am very pleased to report that he is doing well, still in hospital, but has improved since being rushed to Emerg on Thursday. He was transferred to Animal Health Partners yesterday morning from Veterinary Emergency Hospital of West Toronto; after he was admitted, they took him in for an ultrasound and for more tests. Thankfully nothing serious was found on the ultrasound, no mass (No sign of cancer, yay!) The gallbladder and pancreas were also fine, so the vets felt given those results that it was looking more and more like toxicity or bad infection and that's what caused his liver values to spike so aggressively and make him feel so sick. The blood work to monitor the liver levels and other organs was repeated yesterday afternoon, 1 of the levels had gone down to normal. And other level had slightly improved, while the other 2 were still unchanged. So he's been getting supportive care to continue to get all those levels under control, and his results for Lepto are still not in as those tests aren't done in-house, so hopefully, those comeback today and are negative! He obviously did not want to eat, and the vet was concerned that they would need to consider putting a feeding tub. But thankfully, that wasn't necessary as he ate at 3am and kept it down. When the vet called me this morning just before 7, she was pleased with his progress and said if they get the Lepto results back today and the rest of his liver values stabilize, he can be discharged and come home! Hopefully as soon as later tonight, but if not by tomorrow!? Just waiting on the vet to call me with an update on how today has gone.

He is the star patient at the clinic, she said everyone there is in love with him. They are obsessed with his rainbow hair and say he's been very brave and has the sweetest temperment. They e-mail me some photos, and I can tell they've even brushed his mohawk and re-justed the hair clip when needed to keep the hear out of his eyes. Something as simple has that has really warmed my heart that he is in very caring hands, but we're ready for him to come home. So give him back lolol

Here is the bill information..... First bill is from the first night at the first hospital; I was sent EMTs directly to my e-mail from some friends. Which covered that bill in it's entireity, a big thank you to everyone who EMTed me <3 Sorry that parts of the bills are cut out; it's not letting me fit the whole image (even if I Rotate)

This is the estimate and payment for the hospital he is currently staying at; the money raised in this campaign will go towards this bill.

Hopefully, the next update will be me telling you all that he is finally being discharged and coming home! Again, a MASSIVE THANK YOU to you all!

Love

Stephanie + Rufio

-Orignal Post- July 7th

Hi everyone, this is Stephanie (Rufio's mom)

I'm writing this because my sweet little floof Rufio is not doing well, and we could use some help.....

He is currently in emerg at the Veterinary Emergency and Referral Hospital Of West Toronto, I had to rush him there earlier this evening. He threw up a few times this morning and didn't want to eat his breakfast, which is very very out of charcater for him. He was a bit off but seemingly ok, he went for a walk, did his business. As the day progressed he just seemed to worsen energy wise, and when he puked a few more times I then became concerned that maybe it wasn't just a typical "upset tummy" and that maybe it could have been his pancreas or something more serious.

He was rushed over and was triaged and seen pretty immediately by the vet tech and then the vet. Tests were run to see it if would uncover why he was feeling so unwell, and unfortunatly his liver count came back very very high. Vet suspects that there might be an underlining gallbladder issue, his pancreas might possibily be a contributor also, might be a tumor/mass (although vet is currently less convinced of this) and she also said a really bad infection might also be a possiblitly. But because his count is so high that they need to do an ultrasound and have the internal specialist take a look at him, as the ultrasound is really the only way to know exactly what's going on in the liver and pancreas. So now he's just getting continued supportive care at West Toronto, until he can be transfered to Toronto Animal Health Partners Emergency in North York where he will hopefully get his ultrasound and be seen by the internal specialist first thing in the morning and not have to wait till later in the day. The reason he wasn't transfered there sooner is because they are currently at capacity and need to wait till patients are discharged in the morning. If the ultrasounds reveals anything serious then he'll have to have emergy surgery, probably the following day if they can't tomorrow. Which cross fingers isn't the case, cause surgery always has added risks.

Like so many, I am struggling financially. And feel like a total douche bag making a gofund me, but I literally have no other option at the moment. Aside from the pandemic already effecting my business horribly these past 2.5 years, I had a bad injury just after Christmas this year that put me off work for 14 weeks. I'm self employed, so those 14 weeks were unpaid :( I was already playing catch up as it is and that just really put me over the edge, and I'm now faced with the terrible reality that I can't pay the enourmous bill that's about to come my way to give my sweet dog the upper hand to beat this like he so deserves. I totally get that I am not alone in these financial hardships, so if you are too, a simple share of this campaign is already a huge help. If you have a bit of funds to spare and can donate, I would be forever greatful.

I'll be updating this campaign with news as I get it and will also be updating Rufios Instagram (@rufiothelostboy) I've set the campaign goal to $6,000, as that's the minimun I've basically been quoted. If he needs surgery, which would incase his hospital stay I'd be looking into roughly $11,000-$13,000 (that quote was given over the phone, but they will give me hard copies tomorrow) A deposit of $1,155.48 (which was the minimun estimate) was paid at West Toronto for tonight, hopefully there isn't much of an outstanding balance in the morning when he is discharged. I will share the estimates/receipts here as I get them. Then once he's admitted to Animal Health Partners in the morning I was told that I'll need to pay 80% of my estimate bill as my deposit, yikes right! So that estimate will range from $4,000-$6,000, which will cover 1-3 days of supportive care, ultrasound and internal specialist. Best case scenario it is just an infection or then something mild that will just needs a few days of supportive care and some medications and we WON'T need surgery. Because with surgery, that means I'm looking at a estimate of $11,000-$13,000 roughly. Plus surgery is always really nerve wracking. Double yikes!

I am praying to the universe that my sweet little dog makes it through this ordeal, I know just how stressed he must be right now and it breaks my heart even more. He was literally fine and just perfect yesterday, ugh my sweet baby. Please keep him in your thoughts and prays and SHARE and donate (if you can)

His brother Bronson and myself can not wait to have him back home asap!

Thanks for taking the time to read this, see you tomorrow for an update xo

Sincerely,

A very worried mother