Hello, I am raising funds to save my brother and sister-in-law's adorable 7-month-old pug, Salem Vader. In October 2022 Karri came upon an ad on Craigslist for a 3-month-old black pug. She has ALWAYS wanted a black pug. He was the last one left of his litter. The owners said if somebody didn't come and take him, they were going to drop him off at the pound. Brian and Karri could not let that happen. They welcomed Salem Vader into their family on October 4, 2022. He quickly fit in with their dogs Nena and Murray and cat Zoe. He seemed small and peed a lot but they figured he was probably the runt of the litter and nervous about his new surroundings.

They scheduled Salem to be neutered. Salem saw the Vet on January 11th to get routine labs drawn to make sure he was a good candidate for the surgery. Karri got a call that afternoon telling her Salem's liver enzymes were extremely high and that this needed to get figured out before he could have surgery. They drew more blood to check his liver enzymes again on January 19th. His liver enzymes were extremely high. He was started on medication for his liver on January 25th. They were then referred to Dallas Animal Imaging for further testing. Salem had a CT scan with contrast dye on January 26th (cost $2,000.00) to further investigate what was causing the issue.

The CT scan showed a liver shunt. If the shunt was external, there was a possibility that it could be fixed surgically, and he could live a normal life. However, if it was internal, he would be put on medication and kept as comfortable as possible and would have 12-18 months to live. They were devastated. This little guy had quickly become such an important part of their family. They were referred to a surgeon to determine the next steps.

They saw the surgeon on February 24th. Salem has an external liver shunt and is a perfect candidate for it to be surgically repaired! The procedure has a 90% success rate and will be performed by one of the surgeons that pioneered the surgical technique. As you can imagine, this was a HUGE relief for Brian and Karri.

Salem is scheduled for surgery on March 21, 2023. He will have to be confined for 2 weeks, on antibiotics, anti-seizure, and liver medications for 8 weeks. If all goes as planned, he will be peeing less, gaining weight and will live a normal life.

The surgery itself will cost $6,000.00. This doesn't include any follow-up care, medications, lab draws or anything else. Salem has captured the hearts of countless people. Karri does a post every morning to update all of us on his adventures/misadventures. The shenanigans that he ropes his siblings into are pretty incredible.

Please donate if you can. Any amount truly makes a difference. We will keep you updated on Salem's progress as we know more. Thank you in advance for your support and for saving Salem's life.