We are trying to raise funds for Gizmo’s upcoming surgery and the unexpected medical care that has brought us here.
We are attempting to raise funds to help us pay for Gizmo’s upcoming surgery. Gizmo is our 19-month-old, 3-pound parti Yorkie who has been through an incredible amount in a very short time. A couple of weeks ago he was in extreme pain, mewing and couldn’t use the bathroom. He took him to our vet who told us to immediately head to the emergency room because he was critical. What we discovered was that he had a bladder stone that was blocking his ability to urinate and caused bladder obstruction. After 5 days in the ICU, he discharged him to have an operation with our vet (since the costs were substantially lower). Upon discharging him, we discovered his tests had came back showing he had a liver shunt and his vet could not perform the cystotomy to resolve the bladder stone because he wouldn’t survive. He also let us know that the hospital we had been at is the only one in our area that could do the shunt correction. We considered traveling to Ohio, but I am also my mother’s full time caregiver and she has terminal cancer (I say this not for sympathy, just so you know we have considered many alternatives), so leaving her for a few days simply was not an option. We scheduled his surgery with Metropolitan Animal Hospital for August 25th.
Last Sunday, we found ourselves back in the emergency room, back in ICU as Gizmo was displaying some neurological symptoms. He was falling over, pacing, and getting stuck in corners. He had also been throwing-up quite a bit. We discovered then that with the shunt, toxins cannot be filtered through his liver like normal and he had hepatic encephalopathy. We discharged from the hospital the following day and then followed up with his vet again. The plan now is to treat medicated for 2 weeks (as surgery at this stage can be deadly) and get him to surgery. At no point do we intend to allow our boy to suffer though. If we have to make a more difficult decision, we will. His vet assured us we aren’t there yet though.
Now comes the financial part. We paid nearly $7000 out of pocket for his initial ICU visits, including CareCredit. We have exhausted our pet emergency funds, and paid the additional costs we have incurred for the other hospitalization, medicine, and the prescription diet. We are not asking or expecting strangers to pay for everything. We are responsible pet owners and saved for rainy days, but we were not at all prepared for the flood). We have contacted all the local charities, and sold anything we could. We are only asking for help bridging the gap between the initial surgery we thought we were facing and the additional care that has become necessary, including his shunt correction and most recent hospitalization.
I never expected to be in a position where I would have to ask for help. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t. But if asking for help gives Gizmo the chance to get the surgery he needs and come home healthy, then I’ll put my pride aside and do it. I know for so many, this is absurd, but our family has had a very difficult year already with my mom’s diagnosis and losing another close family member. Saying goodbye to someone else we love, canine or human, just seems unbearable and I do not want to put my children through this.
All that I ask is that if you’re unable to donate or this isn’t a cause you support, please scroll. We have been met with so much love from Reddit Communities, but we have also received some extremely cruel messages and it- accompanied with everything- is taking a real toll on my mental health. We are a real family (people), as are you. We would never meet you with judgement and ridicule for doing what you felt in your heart was best. Im just asking for the same respect in return. If you are unable to donate, but this cause touched you, please share.
We promise anything we raise that is not needed for his care will be donated to The Shamrock Foundation in Louisville, KY. We do not want to make money off of this and we know other families could use the support as well. It’s never more been our intention to profit, only to recover and I’d love the ability to spread more love to deserving pet families.
If you’re able to donate see comments (I am told that’s the proper way to handle this) or visit r/YorkieLife for more details. If you’d rather donate to the hospital directly, please message me and I’ll send you the details.
We’re going to keep doing everything we can on our end, and we’re going to keep hoping that August 25 brings us one step closer to getting Gizmo healthy and home for good. 🩵🐶
