Hi, my name is Austin Elmquist. On February 2nd one of the scariest things ever in my life happened. I started my day off like any other day. Got up, made something to eat, let my dog outside, and got ready for the day. However, that’s when things took a turn for the worst. As I went to let my dog Neville in, he was just standing on the porch acting weird (mind you, Neville never stood still). As I got him inside, he ran under a table and just laid down which was odd. But, I needed to run errands so after sitting with him for a little bit I left. I returned home later that night to my dog crying and shaking. I really started to get nervous now and thought maybe he hurt himself outside so I gave him some dog aspirin and sat with him. For a little bit it seemed like everything was getting better until it got much worse. He started shaking out of control and crying. I called the emergency vet as we tried to figure out what was wrong. At this point it was 1 am so trying to get ahold of people is impossible. They said I could take him to the ER however it would be hours until they could see him. I still had painkillers from an incident with his hips from the year before so I gave him one of those and we waited until the morning to get him to his vet. The next morning we got ready to go but as I was getting ready I realized he wasn’t shaking anymore. I thought to myself maybe he is okay and just tweaked something but we would make sure he wasn’t okay. As we got ready to leave I put his leash on and expected to leave, however, he wasn’t moving. I tried pulling him and telling him we were going in the car but again he didn’t react. It was at this moment I realized he wasn’t moving because he couldn’t move his back side at all. I got him in the car and we rushed down. We got into the room and the vet did some tests, and she confirmed he was paraplegic. I couldn’t believe it. At only 5 he couldn’t walk. We did x rays, blood tests, other tests and nothing was showing why. We ended up going home and I didn’t know what to do. Just looking at him like that broke me. This is my boy, my best friend and I felt like this was it. I kept and eye on him for days but had no idea what to do. In one last attempt for answers, we set up a visit with the neurologist, and thank god we did. The Dr found that Neville had very slight feeling left after some tests. It’s was at that point he was diagnosed with IVDD. The Dr. recommended surgery and an 85% chance he would recover in time and walk again. I decided to move forward with the surgery to save his life and give him the best chance at recovery. The surgery went well and Neville is in full recovery at home now. We hope the surgery will lead to a full recovery. During this process it has cost thousands of dollars as well as missed time at work making sure he gets the care he needs. As much as I hate asking for help, I am in a pickle right now. Please help Neville continue his road to recovery! Thank you.