Stella's Snackums Fund (aka vet care)

We'd like to thank everyone that reached out to us to offer kind words and thoughts while Stella has been sick. We've created this to help offset her emergency bills so we can prepare financially for her future care.    If the funds raised exceed the amount of Stella's veterinary bills, they will be donated to a local Pug rescue that we love so much!  Stella's symptoms started with panting and a little dizziness. We took her to her regular vet and they thought it might be a reaction to a new pain medication we had given her. We discontinued the medication and thought that would be the end of it.  That evening, she started shaking and couldn't walk. Progressively getting worse after our regular vet had closed for the evening. We took her to a veterinary emergency clinic where she was given oxygen, a sedative, pain meds and antibiotics. They said she had an ear infection and most likely idiopathic vestibular disease. They couldn't rule out a tumor but she didn't think that's what was going on. We went home with medication and went to see our regular vet the next morning. By this point, she was a little yellow and the doctor was concerned about her liver. They examined her, drew blood, gave her fluids and we went home to wait for the lab results.  Our regular vet called with the bloodwork results and it wasn't good news. Her liver values were sky high and she recommended she be hospitalized at a different emergency clinic overnight. She wanted her to be put on IV fluids and antibiotics with the hopes of her having an abdominal ultrasound the next day.  It was a long sad night missing our girl. We went back the next day to the ER to wait while she was having her ultrasound. The ER vet came back with Stella and gave us the bad news. They said she had a mucocele in her gallbladder and nodules on her liver. Based on the ultrasound results and her bloodwork, the vet gave her 24-48 and we'd most likely be saying goodbye. She advised against surgery given her age and liver values. They offered to keep her at the hospital or we could take her home for the night and we could come back the next day and say our goodbyes. We weren't prepared to make any sudden decisions while we were processing the news.  We decided to bring her home for the night and spend time with her. We contacted her regular vet during this time and she put her on a gallbladder medication and another antibiotic. We unsuccessfully tried tempting her with every delicious food we could think of to coax her to eat. Friends and family came over to say their good-byes. We created a doggy bucket list and spent all of our time trying to make her last days fun and full of love. Then, in true Stella fashion she seemed to bounce back. She slowly started eating. She was able to walk on her own again. She stopped shaking and would give us kisses again (we had missed those kisses!) We had our girl back and we were so incredibly happy. We credit her amazing regular vets/techs for saving her life with their care and knowledge. We're currently waiting on follow-up lab work to see how her liver is doing.  We will take things day by day and enjoy our time with her. Our goal is to keep her happy and healthy for as long as she is with us. Stella says thanks everyone for getting me back on my paws again!