Walter's Big Adventure Vet Bills
Doação protegida
Hi everyone,
After hearing some fireworks around 8:30pm Saturday, July 6th, Walter took off running from Einstein Ct. in Flemington, NJ. We searched for him until 1am but had no luck in finding him. No sightings were reported, and no one had any idea where he was until Monday, July 8th at 2:45pm - when my dad and I found him in the woods near a small stream next to J.P. Casey Middle school.
Aside from being covered in ticks, thirsty/hungry, wet and exhausted - Walter appeared to be fine. I immediately took him to the vet who picked off 30+ ticks, gave him a fever reduction injection (his temp was 104 - normal is 100-101), an antibiotic injection for inflamed/raw skin on his belly, paws, and underarms - as well as antibiotic tablets to take over the next 10 days, and a tick prevention topical to kill any ticks that we weren't able to find in the office. Walter and I came home, he got a really nice bath - and I did another tick-inspection that resulted in another 8 being picked off before laying down and taking a well-deserved nap.
All was seemingly fine until Walter woke up about 45 mins into his sleep with a tremor - I immediately took my phone out to record it because he's never done anything like this before and I wasn't sure what was going on. I laid him on a cold damp towel on the floor, put a couple of fans on him, and poured some water over his back and paws - this lasted about two minutes and he was very mellow. I thought this could be a symptom over dangerously high fever/overheating so I kept him off of the couch on the floor and kept the fans directly on him. Once this happened a second time roughly 25 mins later, I took him to the ER assuming they were seizures.
In the 3 hrs that I was there Walter did not have another seizure-like episode. After doing some blood work, Walter's platelet count was very very low (about 25,000 - normal is 100-150,000), one of his liver enzyme's was a bit high - and there were enough red flags to assume that whatever is going on COULD be infectious - so he was admitted for the night where the list of care would include an ultrasound to ensure no internal bleeding, additional monitoring, disease tests, blood work updates, safety measures like checking with pathology, etc.
I was told by the Dr that whatever is going on with Walter could be as simple as a poor combination of things (body in shock, stress, high fever, dehydration, etc.) and all he needs is the help of some fluids and time. Or, it could be the onset of a serious, possibly fatal disease (Anaplasmosis, Ehrlichia, and Leptospirosis were all mentioned).
As of noon on Tuesday, July 9th Walter is doing great. They picked off 10+ more ticks overnight, and is plasma count is slowly rising (over 30,000 as of this morning). However, he is not well enough to come home today - so he will be spending another night at the hospital.
Unfortunately, I do not have pet insurance. I single-handedly care for Walter (who is my absolute best bud, comes to work with me every day) and the bill on his escape is becoming quite costly. After spending hundreds of dollars on flyers, "lost" notifications on different websites/apps, gas (from both driving around searching, and back and forth since I live out of area), initial vet costs, etc. - I was handed a $3000 estimated cost for his hospital stay/testing. As a 23 year old young professional who lives on her own - I don't have the kind of money to comfortably cover this cost and wanted to offer the opportunity to the people who have been supporting this entire journey to help Walter fully recover.
He and I are both pretty stressed that he's not 100% home yet, but we know that this care is necessary to ensure he's able to live his absolute best healthy life. No donation is too small - and every one will be so incredibly appreciated. Thank you so much for all of the support, thus far, and please keep Walter in your prayers for just a few more days. xoxo
- Gina xo
After hearing some fireworks around 8:30pm Saturday, July 6th, Walter took off running from Einstein Ct. in Flemington, NJ. We searched for him until 1am but had no luck in finding him. No sightings were reported, and no one had any idea where he was until Monday, July 8th at 2:45pm - when my dad and I found him in the woods near a small stream next to J.P. Casey Middle school.
Aside from being covered in ticks, thirsty/hungry, wet and exhausted - Walter appeared to be fine. I immediately took him to the vet who picked off 30+ ticks, gave him a fever reduction injection (his temp was 104 - normal is 100-101), an antibiotic injection for inflamed/raw skin on his belly, paws, and underarms - as well as antibiotic tablets to take over the next 10 days, and a tick prevention topical to kill any ticks that we weren't able to find in the office. Walter and I came home, he got a really nice bath - and I did another tick-inspection that resulted in another 8 being picked off before laying down and taking a well-deserved nap.
All was seemingly fine until Walter woke up about 45 mins into his sleep with a tremor - I immediately took my phone out to record it because he's never done anything like this before and I wasn't sure what was going on. I laid him on a cold damp towel on the floor, put a couple of fans on him, and poured some water over his back and paws - this lasted about two minutes and he was very mellow. I thought this could be a symptom over dangerously high fever/overheating so I kept him off of the couch on the floor and kept the fans directly on him. Once this happened a second time roughly 25 mins later, I took him to the ER assuming they were seizures.
In the 3 hrs that I was there Walter did not have another seizure-like episode. After doing some blood work, Walter's platelet count was very very low (about 25,000 - normal is 100-150,000), one of his liver enzyme's was a bit high - and there were enough red flags to assume that whatever is going on COULD be infectious - so he was admitted for the night where the list of care would include an ultrasound to ensure no internal bleeding, additional monitoring, disease tests, blood work updates, safety measures like checking with pathology, etc.
I was told by the Dr that whatever is going on with Walter could be as simple as a poor combination of things (body in shock, stress, high fever, dehydration, etc.) and all he needs is the help of some fluids and time. Or, it could be the onset of a serious, possibly fatal disease (Anaplasmosis, Ehrlichia, and Leptospirosis were all mentioned).
As of noon on Tuesday, July 9th Walter is doing great. They picked off 10+ more ticks overnight, and is plasma count is slowly rising (over 30,000 as of this morning). However, he is not well enough to come home today - so he will be spending another night at the hospital.
Unfortunately, I do not have pet insurance. I single-handedly care for Walter (who is my absolute best bud, comes to work with me every day) and the bill on his escape is becoming quite costly. After spending hundreds of dollars on flyers, "lost" notifications on different websites/apps, gas (from both driving around searching, and back and forth since I live out of area), initial vet costs, etc. - I was handed a $3000 estimated cost for his hospital stay/testing. As a 23 year old young professional who lives on her own - I don't have the kind of money to comfortably cover this cost and wanted to offer the opportunity to the people who have been supporting this entire journey to help Walter fully recover.
He and I are both pretty stressed that he's not 100% home yet, but we know that this care is necessary to ensure he's able to live his absolute best healthy life. No donation is too small - and every one will be so incredibly appreciated. Thank you so much for all of the support, thus far, and please keep Walter in your prayers for just a few more days. xoxo
- Gina xo
Organizador
Gina Nappi
Organizador
Oakland, NJ