Tula’s Recovery Fund

Hi friends,

Thank you in advance for your reading patience as I furnish this fundraiser for Tula with some context.

In the past eight years I have discovered an unrivaled measure of solace in long, woodsy dog walks, often recruiting the pups of friends and neighbors to join our pack on weekends and in the evenings for hikes and jogs on the trails of Whitefish. The morning of Saturday, March 9, began just as many of those walks do, with my dear friends’ golden-doodle, Spatula Doris — or “Tula,” for short, a well-known fixture in Whitefish as the shop dog at Jersey Boy’s Pizzeria — joining me and Print the Supermutt for a loop around South Spencer Mountain. But it ended very differently, and by Sunday morning Tula was undergoing emergency surgery to repair a hole in her esophagus, the result of some blunt force trauma that occurred while she hurtled through the forest. I recall hearing her yelp twice at one point along our hike, followed by what I discerned as a shaken confidence and some tender-footed padding along the trail, but she quickly regained composure and returned to form.

Until she didn’t.

This injury-accident happened on my watch and the millstone of guilt and grief has been weighing heavy this week, especially during the five agonizing days during which Tula’s condition was dire and she remained under round-the-clock supervision under Flathead Pet Emergency Clinic and Whitefish Animal Hospital. As of this morning (March 15) I can share cheerful news as Tula has gone home with her dad Matt Parmenter (the mustachioed manager at J-boys).

Second only to Tula’s very bad week, Matt’s has been grim as he navigated Tula’s surgeries and slow recovery without his partner Allie’s feedback as she remained out of radio contact teaching an outdoor leadership skills course.

Matt was able to reach Allie by satellite phone and update her on Tula’s progress, and she’ll rejoin her family next week, when together they’ll navigate the next chapter of Tula’s healing journey, as well as the steep cost of her emergency vet bills and extended care.

I know firsthand the emotional and financial strain of a pet’s medical emergency, and I also know the difficulty of asking for help and the immense relief that comes from receiving it.

On Tula’s behalf, and as her appointed guardian on the day she met a tree she couldn’t dodge, I’m imploring you humbly and on bended knee to consider helping this lovely family with a modest contribution.

Thank you for your consideration and peace to you all.

Best,

Tristan Scott