Support Waffles' Recovery Journey

Hello Everyone,

My name is Colin and I am here to tell you about Casey’s, my fiancé, and my dog, Waffles. Waffles has had an intense and sad past year and a half.

Waffles was previously owned by my uncle, Brent. Around a year and a half ago, Brent went to the hospital after accidentally ingesting a toxic chemical. The doctors were able to combat that situation. But, in doing so, they found that he had bladder cancer that had already metastasized throughout his body. There was no way to remedy the cancer situation, and this ultimately ended his life.

Brent’s biggest worry was not his house or his finances. His biggest worry was what was going to happen to the biggest love and joy in his life, Waffles. My fiancé and I quickly decided that we would adopt Waffles and relieve the biggest stressor on Brent’s mind in his final days. I have loved a lot of animals in my life, and I have never loved any of them like I love Waffles. He has truly completed our family.

Just under a month ago, Waffles injured himself playing. In an ironic and devastating situation, our vet was able to handle that situation, but discovered a cancerous tumor in the process. We had a few avenues we could go down, but they all ended the same way. We had to amputate one of his back legs. The tumor was on his Achilles tendon and they were not able to remove it.

We went through with the amputation and all seemed well. When he began to come out of anesthesia, his heart rate spiked and he blew a blood vessel. This resulted in him starting to bleed out. They quickly put him back under, went back in, and were able to stop the bleeding. This was a miracle, but caused a rather large issue. This loss of blood would inhibit his body from fighting an infection that ended up taking over.

After we got Waffles home, his wound site and his underside began to experience some strange swelling and bruising. At first, we thought this was normal. The swelling intensified and the bruising spread, covering his underside and shoulders. His skin was sagging and there was clearly a lot of fluid under his skin. We brought him to our vet and an emergency vet, and neither could tell why this was happening. Then we brought him to Michigan State University's Veterinary Clinic. They ran a CT scan and believed these issues were being caused by some dying muscle tissue or an abscess. They had to administer a blood transfusion because his red blood cell count was too low to operate. Once they opened him back up, they discovered that Waffles contracted an infection.

MSU’s clinic is literally the best place he could be in the state, the only place that could handle the situation, and they have done an incredible job in fixing up our boy. At this point, his bruising and swelling are down, his red blood cell count is staying where it needs to be, and his protein is back up to the proper levels. He has a long road of recovery ahead still, though he will be home to us in the next couple of days. They are not yet able to close the wound. He will be coming home in a bandage covering the open wound. We will take him back to the clinic every few days so that they can change the dressing as well as decide when they will be able to close him back up. Once we get to that point, we should be home free.

This level of care unfortunately comes at a high cost. Waffles' bills have exceeded $10,000. As I mentioned earlier, I have never loved an animal like I love Waffles, and we would make the same decisions again. But, this has been more expensive than we ever imagined it being.

I am typically not a big fan of crowdfunding. But, if Waffles' story moves you, and you can afford and are willing to help, we would be forever grateful.

We greatly appreciate you taking the time to hear Waffles' story. Now go give your animal or animals some love, because you never know when you could lose them.

Thank you,

Colin, Casey, and Waffles