I am Rhonda. I am an animal lover. Anyone who knows me knows this about me. I foster, I adopt - I have three rescued pets, I donate to rescues when I can, I donate to other pet owners when I can, I give rides to animals in need, and just generally try to do whatever I can to help any animal who needs it.

But today, my own pet needs help.

I want everyone reading this to know that I believe myself to be a very responsible dog owner who felt well prepared to incur vet costs, but nothing could have prepared me for what has happened to my beautiful girl today.

You see, I am also Lady's mom. Lady is the beautiful beagle you see in the picture attached to this campaign. Lady is a four year old rescued beagle from an NL rescue group - Beagle Paws Rescue Canada. Lady had a rough start in life. Lady first came to live with me as a 'foster' in August of 2014, and was adopted by me shortly after. She is what we call a 'foster fail.' She is the sweetest little dog you will ever meet. I mean, just look at that face!

But right now, Lady is not doing so well.

Lady has had on again/off again back pain over the last year that was unfortunately not detected by a vet to be anything very serious. She would have sporadic episodes of seeming to be in pain that did not last long, and she would appear fine the next day and show no further symptoms for a couple of months. This Sunday past, Lady showed the same symptoms again late in the evening. But this time, Lady didn't get better. Lady's condition very quickly and heartbreakingly deteriorated into paralysis of her back legs early this morning.

Lady has now been diagnosed with Intervertebral Disc Disease. She had a ruptured disc leaking fluid that required immediate surgery in hopes it would reverse the paralysis once the fluid from the ruptured disc stopped creating pressure on her spine. Lady has had this surgery as I used money I had saved for my upcoming wedding in three months time for the downpayment needed to go ahead with the surgery. Right now, Lady is recovering well. She still has pain sensation in her hind legs so they are hopeful this means positive things for her recovery.

As mentioned above, if it was not for having my wedding planned in such a few short months I would not have been able to go ahead with her surgery today as I would have had no way to even come up with a deposit of such a large amount. This also that now I need to find an alternate way to come up with the money for my wedding, but I don't mind as Lady is worth every cent. However, as all of the extra money I had on hand has now been spent toward her surgery I have no way to pay the rest of the surgical bill.

The entire estimate for Lady's surgery which includes five days of hospitalization is $7800.

Lady is currently hospitalized at Veterinary Specialty Centre of Newfoundland & Labrador. I will post estimates and bills as they become available so anyone who is kind enough to donate knows where there money has gone. All money will go directly to Lady's surgery.

I also would like to add that I will be purchasing pet insurance for my pets now to prevent this situation from happening again in the future.