Save Eva: My Precious Survivor Needs You

I made this video to tell Eva's story. She's a puppy mill survivor and she's been the light of my life for 8 years. Last week we were hit with some devastating health news -- that she may have congestive heart failure.

She deserves the best chance at a good quality of life given all that she has been through. I am reaching out to family, friends, colleagues and anyone who has ever loved a little warrior angel like her to please do anything - no matter how small - help pay her vet for the testing and treatment she needs.

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Eva’s Story

This is my dog Eva. She’s 13-14 years old, and we need your help.

In the Spring of 2017, I became concerned that my adored Puli, who was turning 13 that year, needed company and mental stimulation…

So I went to the North Shore Animal League’s 23rd annual Pet Adoptathon to find an adult female of a small breed, and I thought… “wouldn’t a papillon be wonderful?”

We got there at midnight. There were more than 300 pets available, including 62 dogs who were rescued from a puppy mill in the midwest… Eva was one of them. A beautiful little papillon mix lady.

She was estimated to be 5 to 6 years-old at that time.

When the staff brought her out to me, she wouldn’t even look at me. She had been through so much. She had a heart murmur, periodontal disease, and she was shaky and traumatized.

I saw dejection in her beautiful brown eyes…. I felt what she had gone through. But I knew instantly she was the one…she belonged with us.

I brought her home, and she immediately bonded with my older boy. She was spry, somewhat sassy and tough. She’d look out for him and not let any dogs at our local park take advantage of his advancing age. She instantly became the best kid sister I could’ve wished for him.

At the end of that year, the three of us moved cross-country to California…

And two years later, while we were there, my boy passed away.

Since then it’s just been me & Eva. A matched set.

She was a runner, and if she didn’t know where I was at a given time, she’d bolt from wherever she was and go to find me.

In California, she did it a couple of times.

The first time, while I was out working, she bolted from the home where we were staying and some good samaritans found her running across Route 66.

The second time, while I was traveling for work, she got away from her dog-sitters again, and spent 3 days in the hills of Glendora…surviving an environment full of coyotes, snakes and other dangers. She was found by a group of kids from a yoga studio on a meditation walk. They saw my signs posted all over the neighborhood, and got her back to me.

I never let anyone watch her again…she’d outsmarted them all…

But as long as she knew where I was…she didn’t feel the need to run away again…I’m her safe place and honestly, she’s mine…

We moved to the DMV area in 2021.

Times have changed. I work outside the home more, and make considerably less income than I did in 2017.

Eva started looking lethargic about a week or two ago…and Friday I woke up to find her with labored breathing. I rushed her to the vet.

Knowing her history, the vet said he needed testing to confirm what he suspected, but Eva appears to be suffering from Congestive Heart Failure…

Bloodwork and X-rays are needed to confirm his suspicions. And then the medication afterward, which she’d need every day for the rest of her life. When the vet presented me with the estimate for her testing and treatment… I broke…

Through tears I told them, “Once upon a time, I could afford this.” But now is not that time.

Financially, like so many other people, I’m fighting for my life. Barely making rent and the basic expenses.

And there are not enough hours in the day to earn the money that this will take, given the other financial pressures.

I would never, ever go to the public for help for myself. But I will do it for Eva.

She’s survived the puppy mill, Route 66, the hills, and so many other challenges…but we need your help making her final (I hope) years -- with proper treatment -- the best they can be.

So I am reaching out to the world; to my friends, colleagues, family members and even caring strangers to please help us get her the testing and treatment she needs. We know that vet testing and treatment is expensive, and I’m asking for the full projected amount, but any donation is meaningful -- even if it’s just five dollars.

Eva is my heart…please help me keep her here as long as possible.

Thank you for your attention.