Save Dexter: Aid for His Life-Saving Surgeries

Hello, my name is Dexter and I just celebrated my 2nd birthday with my new momma. She says I’m 50% English Pointer and 100% good boy. I came from a really scary home where I was always in trouble for going potty, but I couldn’t help it. I was so thirsty I could drink gallons of water and still be parched. My new momma took me to her work where I got to meet some of the best veterinarians in the nation and after hours of touch and go, I was fixed! Now, I think my momma could use some of our help.

My name is Shelby and I work as a Vet Tech with aspirations of one day becoming a veterinarian myself. I agreed to foster Dexter in January of this year unaware of his condition until I picked him up. He was emaciated, covered in urine scalding, and had been locked in a crate and water restricted for the majority of his first year of life. He had one of the most severe cases of excessive thirst and urination I had seen. After numerous diagnostics including bloodwork, abdominal ultrasounds, and x-rays the doctors were concerned he had an adrenal mass. Our options were to either euthanize or attempt to remove the mass. I chose to give Dexter the best fighting chance to make sure he knew the rest of his life would be filled with nothing but love. By what can only be described as a miracle, the doctors removed a kidney, adrenal glad, and a mass like structure that turned out to be a non-cancerous blood clot. Even the pathologists had never studied such an oddity across decades of experience in human and animal medicine. The relief of knowing Dexter was going to get to live the life he deserved was worth every moment of worry, every tear, and every penny spent.

Unfortunately, his story doesn’t end there. I trusted someone to look after him and they left him alone with a contractor’s bag full deadly items on the kitchen floor which, to no fault of his own, Dexter ingested. Once more the incredible veterinary team I work with saved Dexter and pulled out nearly 1.5lbs of splintering ribs bones, corn cobs, and other indiscernible lethal items which were leaving him in agonizing pain and discomfort. As you can imagine, my heart was broken, not only for beloved Dexter, but also that the person I had trusted refuses to take any responsibility or accountability for blatant negligence.

I took Dexter on as a private rehoming and don’t have the backing of a foundation for financial support. That being said, his first surgery initially had a poor prognosis and I was denied grant funding or assistance. I paid for his surgery and diagnostics outright and am now completely financially depleted to cover the costs of this second procedure. It is with gratitude and humility I ask for any assistance, no matter the amount, to help Dexter continue his life with me in safety, love, and exemplary care. The way all animals deserve to live.