Help Sheldon Neurosurgery Emergency Cost

Hello, this post is to help try and save our 6 year old French Bulldog named Sheldon.  He has a upper neck/back injury and with our current financial situation a medical bill of this size is just not something our family can afford in full.  We only can cover about half the cost with Lindsey taking an emergency loan from her 401k, and then the little bit of cash we have. 

On Friday the 8th he jumped down from the area he sleeps in during the day, he must of landed wrong and let out a cry.  Friday night he seemed to slow down, and by Saturday he was showing signs of not being able to walk or stand correctly. The whole day Sat he barely moved, by Sunday he was even worse.  He collapsed twice while trying to go potty, he laid around the entire day not moving and was clearly in pain, his entire body shaking.  Sheldon was a pretty active dog, loved to play fetch, run laps in the house, play ball with Cade, for a 6 year old dog he played like a puppy most of the time.  So this was not like him.  

Monday we took him to our vet at Oley Valley, his vet Dr Hart checked him out, and during the exam his legs started to knuckle while he tried to stand. She said there wasn’t much we could do unless he has an MRI to determine exactly where the issue is. She gave him a shot of some pain meds, prescribed us a steroid, muscle relaxer, and something for the inflammation. And home we went in hopes that we would see improvement.  

By Tuesday the knuckling and ability to stand or walk was worse.  He would try to stand, legs would give out and he would fall. He also stopped drinking, and we had to hand feed him his food.  On Wednesday he was back to shaking in pain, he was still not drinking, and barely eating.  He also hadn’t gone Potty since Sunday night. So we decided to drive him to VRC in Malvern to see what they would say.  

Thats when hen they told us the cost of what might need to be done. The total estimated cost of making him better is around $8900.  We can only afford half of that with us taking an emergency loan from Lindsey’s 401k, and with the 1k we had in Care Credit.   Knowing they needed half upfront and the rest on pick up we knew we couldn’t afford it. So we left him there overnight(Feb13th). We paid $600 for a neurologist to try and look at him without the mri. 

Today she called to say there is not much more they can do without the mri to determine what would be done via surgery.  So this is our Hail Mary pass, one shot to try and save him.  He has been a big part of our family for 6 years. And the thought of losing him because financially we can’t help him is killing me, Sheldon is my first pet.   

They are are going to give us medicine for the next week or two while we try to come up with what’s needed to get him help.   If not we will most likely have to euthanize him.  I know my family has needed help in the past recently with the issues we have faced with my health situation, and us asking again for help is not something we want to do. But it’s our only option at this point and so many people have asked me to make a go fund me.  So I’m gonna give it a chance in hopes we can save our pup. I know the goal I set is high, and I am not expecting to reach that.  But any help we can get will help us bring him home and get him back to normal.  

Below is an est cost, the higher price is with surgery, the lower cost was just with him staying overnight and having an mri from the Vet and some pictures of our Sheldon. 

Again thank you for your help. Lindsey, Cade, Sheldon and myself appreciate it greatly.  Much love.