Please help my BEST friend in the whole world get specialist medical care. Tuesday night, I noticed that there was irritated skin on Bartleby’s left flank. After assessing him further, I got online and made an appointment for the following morning with his vet. Because he had a fever, we did bloodwork and x rays. Both showed some concerns with the liver. I was advised to get an ultrasound, which required transferring Bartleby to an emergency hospital who could do the ultrasound immediately. Once there, the liver values continued to be concerning, but now his leg, where there was redness and irritation that started not even 2 days ago, has continued to discolor, and has begun swelling and draining fluid. I’m being advised to transfer yet again today for a surgical consult and criticalist consult. We don’t know why the liver values are extremely high, the ultrasound did not show anything obviously scary or significant changes, and we don’t know what disease process is happening with the leg, or why it continues to worsen despite immediate treatment with IV antibiotics and aggressive treatment with hospitalization at a 24/7 emergency clinic. The expense for the immediate care that’s already been provided depleted my emergency funds, but I need to do these further consults to try to get these answers and give Bartleby the best chance at recovery. Please help him if you can!

Update; Friday, 7/25 Bartleby remains hospitalized at Violet Crown Veterinary Specialists. They are focusing on intensive wound care for his leg and he continues to receive IV fluids, aggressive pain management, and antibiotics. His liver values remain elevated, with 2 values lowering slightly and one increasing slightly. We still do not know the cause of the skin abscess and infection or the insult to the liver. The current plan is to continue with hospitalization for at least 5 days (we’re on day 3), while we await culture and lab diagnostics that were sent out on Tuesday.