My name is Chelsea, and my spouse and I have two beautiful, precious dogs who have made our family and our lives whole. They are best friends, and they're our world. We are devastated to share that on February 27, 2026, we got terrible news from the vet that our baby boy, Lui, is in liver failure. He is only 4 years old. We are reeling, helpless, heartbroken, and desperate.

The recommended path forward is hospitalization with aggressive medication and treatment for a minimum of 3 days, but we have drained all of our finances just to get to this point. CareCredit approved us for a small amount, which was used in full to pay for his hospital visit on the 27th. We were denied for ScratchPay. We have no available credit and no more cash. We have reached out to local rescues for help to no avail, and we don't qualify for any foundation grants that we've found.

The doctor advised that hospitalization for less than 3 days is unlikely to be worth the expense. Even if we can somehow raise enough for 3 days, there is still a big chance that he doesn't improve. We want to be transparent about that fact. Even if we do everything right, it may still be too late. But we have to try for our boy.

Lui's Story

Lui came into our lives in December of 2022 at barely a year old, while we still lived in Seattle. Our neighbor knew we had one pittie already, and asked if we wanted another one. He explained that his cousin had been neglecting his dog, and abandoning the dog with his parents for weeks at a time. The parents were responsible for the dog and couldn't care for him, and were about to surrender him to a shelter in hopes that he could end up somewhere better. Reaching out to us was a last resort before surrendering him. We had wanted to adopt a sibling for our other dog, Zubeia, so we decided to take her to meet Lui and see if they got along.

We arrived at the house and were welcomed inside. As soon as Zubi and Lui saw each other, they took off running! Lui grabbed his only toy and showed it to Zubi, goading her into chasing him. She quickly obliged and the two disappeared upstairs. We all laughed together in the kitchen. Our biggest potential hurdle to helping Lui was whether or not he and Zubi got along, and in seconds, they were already best friends. They spent the rest of the visit chasing each other and playing. Lui put up with Zubi's tendency to bark incessantly as she played, which usually annoyed other dogs. And being bigger than her, he could easily handle her pittie wrestles and rough play. They were the perfect siblings. We left shortly after with Lui, his crate, his blankie, and his only chew toy, and welcomed him to his new home and family.

Photo: Zubi and Lui the night we brought Lui home.

It quickly became apparent to us that Lui wasn't only neglected, but abused, and never socialized. I took him to the store to get him a new leash and harness, and discovered he was extremely reactive with strangers. He was afraid, anxious, and barked at everyone. Being a very large dog, it really put people off. Over the first few weeks we noticed that he would flinch with any noise, any quick movement, and particularly when moving or raising our hands. We were told that he almost never went for walks because he was too strong on the leash and never got car rides. For some reason, he welcomed us immediately, even though we were strangers to him that night. Later we would discover that he was much better at accepting strangers when they were brought into our home, as opposed to meeting outside of the home. But he has never accepted anyone else as immediately as he accepted us the night we went to meet him. It was like he knew he had found his forever family.

Caring for Lui with his reactivity and lack of socialization has been a challenge, but we have successfully introduced him to many people over the years, including family and friends that he absolutely adores. His previous humans didn't have him neutered, so we did, but he was so afraid at the vet that we couldn't take him regularly the way we had hoped to, the way we could with Zubeia. Walking Lui in public was a struggle because he would react whenever he saw another person. He is also very strong, and difficult to control on the leash. Many people judged him over the years because of his reactivity, but those who didn't were rewarded with getting to know one of the sweetest, most loving dogs they will ever encounter.

When we drove from Seattle to Florida to be with family, and then again from Florida to Michigan, Lui really surprised us! He was so good on the long car rides that you'd never know cars were new for him. He and his sister cuddled in the back seat and adjusted to a new hotel every night far better than we expected, although he did frighten a few employees with his big boy bark along the way. Still, I was and am incredibly proud of him for adapting so well, for being the best boy we could have hoped for during what could easily have been a very stressful situation for him. He felt truly safe with us, and that's such an honor.

Photos: Zubi and Lui and us on the road trip from Seattle to Florida

There's nothing Lui enjoys more than snuggling and giving big, drooly kisses! In that, he is exactly like his sister. Earning his love is such a fulfilling feat, knowing how difficult it is for him to trust. He has the purest, sweetest heart, and has been wronged so much. No matter what happens, we are so grateful that he came into our lives, that we could give him a wonderful life with a family who adores him, that we could show him what gentle and loving affection feels like, where he doesn't have to be afraid or worry about being abandoned.

Vet Details

About a week ago, we noticed some blood in Lui's urine. We took him to our regular vet and they advised that he needed a lot more testing, testing that had to be done at a hospital. They referred us to Blue Pearl in Grand Rapids, and we got him in for testing the next day.

Being only 4 years old and otherwise seemingly healthy, they seemed optimistic at first. They couldn't rule out something like cancer or kidney failure, but they didn't expect to find either. The tech who worked with us, Kourtney, was amazing. She walked into the room unbothered and unafraid of Lui and his barking, and that kind of energy works really well with him. Within minutes Lui accepted her and relaxed. After barking for an hour and a half straight at his regular vet visit, him quieting and laying down within minutes was a beautiful thing to see. Kourtney later informed me that she became his person while he was getting his testing done, leaning on her and sticking by her side. She was so good and compassionate with him, as was his doctor, Dr. Kim.

Kourtney patiently answered all of my questions before taking Lui back to be sedated and given an abdominal ultrasound, have blood drawn, and other tests done. An hour or two later, Lui was brought back into the room with me, barely able to stand from the sedation, but wagged his tail and came to me as soon as he saw me. Shortly after that, Dr. Kim entered the room and handed me a piece of paper with his bloodwork on it and a few lines highlighted. When she didn't start the conversation with "Good news" and indicated that the highlighted levels were related to liver function, I knew I was about to be devastated. Dr. Kim went on to explain that Lui had multiple elevated levels related to liver function and a small liver, consistent with liver disease. His lymph nodes were inflamed, his spleen enlarged, and his abdomen was full of fluid. There were crystals in his urine and a lot of blood. Given all of this and more, she could confidently say he was in liver failure, either from liver disease or lymphoma.

Dr. Kim's recommended treatment was immediate and intense hospitalization for at least a few days, along with taking fine needle aspirations of his liver and lymph nodes to see if they could rule out or diagnose lymphoma. Unfortunately, hospitalization for that amount of time would run around $6000 at least, so I had no choice but to opt for what the last of our money could get us, which included the fine needle aspirations and some take home medication. They were unable to get samples from his liver or lymph nodes, but they were able to take one from his spleen. I'm unsure what exactly that sample might tell them, but Dr. Kim did say that it's possible he would decline or pass away before we even see what the samples can tell us, which would be early next week.

Whether we hospitalized or took him home, Dr. Kim couldn't confidently say that he would recover. But it was clear that hospitalization was his best chance for bouncing back. She explained that the liver can be forgiving, but only time would tell. Without the hospitalization, his chances were much lower. She and Kourtney were both clear, though, that even with hospitalization, things were pretty bad, and he may not even make it through the weekend. Because of this, they didn't recommend anything less than 3 days of intense treatment in the hospital.

Although we tried to scrape together money with family, we still fell way short of the cost. I tried researching foundations that give out grants for emergency vet funds, but no grants came close to the cost of the treatment needed, and all of them required two things: a good prognosis with treatment, and a definitive diagnosis, neither of which we have.

Funding

Although I am not confident we'll raise $7000 in a day or two, I still have to try. Even if we can't raise enough to hospitalize him, he still needs vet care that we can't afford. If he miraculously bounces back, he will need to be on medication and have regular blood draws and other tests done to monitor his condition for the rest of his life. Even if he continues to decline slowly over more time, the same is true. In the event that he declines very rapidly and we have to make the incredibly difficult and heartbreaking decision to say goodbye to him, the cost of euthanasia and cremation to get his ashes back would run around or over $500. So I am reaching out to beg you for your help. Anything, any amount at all would make a difference in our ability to provide Lui with care that he needs. Even just sharing this fundraiser would mean the world to us.

In the event that we raise money but Lui passes before we can use it to provide him with care, we will put the money in a savings account to use exclusively for vet costs for our other dog, Zubeia. Zubi was born with a heart condition called pulmonic stenosis and had to have heart surgery at just 1 year old. Pulmonic stenosis is a congenital heart defect that causes narrowing of the heart valve, and usually leads to early death if not treated. Zubi's was graded "severe" when she was still just a baby. Without the surgery, she would have been lucky to see 4 years old. Because her surgery was a success, she just turned 6! The surgery involved inserting a balloon through her jugular and feeding it into the narrow valve, then inflating it to break up the growth and open the valve. There is no cure for pulmonic stenosis, only treatment, and it requires regular monitoring for the rest of her life. This includes echocardiograms every year while things look good, and more frequently if there is regrowth and narrowing of the valve. She may have to go back on medication at any time, or if the worst happens, endure more surgery. Because of all of the costs associated with monitoring this condition, this is what we would use the funds for if we were left with any extra, or if Lui were to pass before we could attempt to treat him.

Thank you for taking the time to read all of this. Thank you for taking the time to consider helping our beautiful baby boy. Every share and every cent helps. Please, please help us help our boy. And please enjoy these photos of our big goofball.

Note: When we were first told Lui's name, we heard it as Luigi. There was a bit of a language barrier. We decided to shorten it to Lui. Then when we got the record of his one vet visit prior to coming to live with us, we realized his name was spelled "Louis". That's why it appears as "Louis" on his vet records.