Help Heidi’s Dog, Max, Recover

Heidi Deplazes is organizing this fundraiser.

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Hi my name is Heidi Deplazes. I am 22 years old college student and I created this go fund me to pay off my 2 year old goldador, Max’s, life saving surgeries. CLICK READ MORE TO HEAR OUR STORY…

Max is my emotional support animal and has brought so much joy into my life. He helped my anxiety and depression more than any medication could have. Up until this point, Max has been incredibly healthy. Little man just turned 2 may 8th so he is still in his puppy/teenager phase. Normally, max is very playful, goofy, curious, and loving

But on May 20th, things took a turn for the worst. On may 20th, Max started throwing up. At first, this didn’t raise any concerns because I had just adjusted his food so I thought maybe he just had an upset stomach.

However, he continued throwing up all week, began exhibiting signs of extreme lethargy, and eventually stopped eating and drinking. We thought maybe the food was the issue so we took him into the vet May 24th. This vet bill costed $460.

I’m a 22 year old in college right now with hopes to get my LPN license. Money is already tight. I’ve had to continue to work part time while in school to pay my monthly rent of $905. This has been incredibly hard and I’m in the process of moving to a cheaper place, but moving also costs a lot of money, and then Max got sick.

At that vet visit, they ran blood tests which all came back normal and sent us home with some pain and nausea medication for GI upset. Little man continued to seem off, though. My happy, go-lucky puppy was sluggish and showed very little energy. These are some pics of what Max is usually like.

On the 26th we brought him into the emergency animal hospital because he continued to throw up despite his injection of cerenia.

They did additional blood tests and X-rays and discovered that Max had eaten what looked like either a cloth or sock.

A 16 inch sock at that ‍♀️

We got him into surgery (which costed $6000) and they took the cloth out and fixed him up. A day later things were looking up and he looked like he was on the mend. Unfortunately later that day, the doctors discovered that an abnormal amount of fluid was building up in his abdomen. He also was still not eating and drinking. I was devastated.

The doctors recommended another exploratory surgery to figure out why he wasn’t healing well and he went into a second surgery (another $6000) last night at 10pm.

They removed 6 inches of his small intestine because it was necrotic (it had not been necrotic at the time of his previous surgery only inflamed) and inserted a tube to drain the fluid from his abdomen. This morning he woke up looking a lot better, but with pneumonia. It’s so devastating watching your dog go from being so playful and resilient to watching him struggle to recover.

Today, they are monitoring him closely to see how his body is reacting to the surgery. This whole situation has been a whirlwind of emotions & grief, but the hardest part has been having to fight tooth and nail to find money to pay for Max’s care. I wish I could talk to myself a year ago and tell myself to look more into pet insurance despite his previous healthy history. You never know when a freak accident like this could happen. Even with all the puppy proofing in the world, your little man can still manage to find a sock while you’re sleeping. This whole situation has costed $12000 and I’m also in the process of moving so this has been incredibly stressful. I feel like I’m bleeding financially right now. I feel so hopeless having to make Max’s medical decisions based off of finances. Funds will be used to pay off his his medical bills. Thank you for all you do to help. It’s important to note that small donations are equally as valuable as large donations. Even if you can only help with a $10 or $20, it’s a huge help & gives me hope. Max is my best friend and this whole thing has been incredibly devastating both emotionally and financially. Please help me bring best friend back to me healthy