[puggy update] I wanted to slide in a little update here. Ollie pulled through his first night of hospitalization like the true rockstar he is! Claire also asked I thank everyone who is donating, spreading his message and continues to keep him in their thoughts! Not being a blogger, she texted me at midnight just FLOORED by the generousity of bloggers to animals and wanted to pass along this message: “Thank you to everyone who has donated for Ollie’s sake. He is a fighter, and words can not express what your contributions mean to me. Ollie may be a medical disaster, but he’s a FANTASTIC medical disaster, and I wouldn’t trade him for the world.” [/puggy update]
I don’t typically ask for people to be charitable, but this is a situation in which I simply must.
For those of you who follow my blog, you will recall that Sean and I fostered a wondrous and heart-warming little gentleman pug named Ollie. Ollie is a spunky and loving little old fart with a heart of gold. Ollie had been dealt a pretty rough hand in life. The story the rescue was given was that he had been owned by an older man who was being moved in with his grown children as he became unable to care for himself, and that his grown children did not also want to take in a pug.
The story that they simply didn’t want Ollie began to unravel, and looked more like a case of people who left Ollie as a lone backyard dog, riddled with health issues they no longer felt like treating.
Ollie arrived at the rescue vet from New Orleans with a raging case of both heart worms and intestinal worms. A trooper, he fought through two rounds (!!) of medicine that began to wreak havoc on his little body. He had dry eye that would need daily drops for the rest of his life. He had arthritis. Underweight, he had developed a problem with guarding food — presumably because it came so rarely before. Despite being riddled with “issues”, he was a gem of a pug and we hoped someone could look past his medical needs.
Someone did. An amazingly lovely and compassionate girl named Claire, who was in TX far away from her hometown in MN completeing her Masters, fell in love with Ollie — her first dog!! – and patiently waited for his heartworm treatment to end so she could adopt him. Her thirty day wait turned into FOUR MONTHS. Shortly before we could release him to Claire, Ollie had a seizure. Blood work found nothing but the wait increased. Then his stomach extended. Nothing again. Then we were uncertain his heartworms had entirely cleared. Another round of treatment. I disliked the rescue’s vet choice and felt he was clearly missing something that needed to be addressed, but had little say in the matter. The rescue itself felt Claire ought to just pick another pug and end her prolonged wait, but she refused. She didn’t mind he had issues. She didn’t mind he came a little worn around the edges. She could clearly see this mildly toothless little dude had a world of love inside him and she was prepared to dish it right back.
She even began driving an hour after work and school (she was here in TX getting her Masters and working her days helping children with Autism — like I said, a wonderful person), even if it meant arriving at our house at 10pm only to need to turn around 30 minutes later so she could get up on time to start it again, to pay him visits so he wouldn’t forget her. If she had a bad day, she would call me to see if she could swing by for a little Ollie face time, a little moment with her furry man to cheer her up. I can not emphasize enough how much she LOVES this dog.
But love and money are not the same thing, as I can vouch for having six pets and an endless array of vet needs. Being a student with loans to pay off now, a job to find, and juggling planning and paying for her wedding (SQUEE! To a WONDERFUL man named Mike, btw, who plays the role of Ollie’s dad like nobody’s business), Claire was wise enough to know a pet can mean unexpected costs and did her research. She even was upfront and honest that tackling little medical issues right off the bat was acceptable, but was relying on the rescue’s vet to be upfront and honest with her on what she would really be undertaking — to logically make sure this was something her wallet could handle. She knows a pet means you have zero guarantee what they may actually cost or come down with, but was wisely trying to pick one without any known medical dramas, and the vet gave an all clear — which she patiently waited on and put faith in, because she knew Ollie deserved that.
When he was finally released from medical hold, this rescue’s vet swore up and down he was healthy as a horse, the seizure was one-time, his blood work and x-rays were always fine, ta-da! All she would need to worry about was his daily eye drops and she was good to go! I was wary and had been to hell and back with this vet, but that what was Claire was told.
Incorrectly.
Claire has had Ollie four months. FOUR. MONTHS. In this time, and now off the medicine for heartworm that was suppressing his symptoms, she’s been able to see Ollie’s true array of medical needs. Ollie continues to have seizures — the lame rescue vet was completely wrong. They are scary, but manageable, with daily medication ($$). He has a few other issues that have popped up that she keeps stable with varying medication as well. Definitely a large cost to undertake right off the bat, but Claire does it without a wink. This is her dog. This is her baby. This is just what you do.
Last week, Ollie was sluggish on a walk. He came home and vomited, then refused to eat. Concerned, Claire booked an immediate appointment. They were hit in the face with a huge shock. An x-ray revealed Ollie has developed a lung infection that is quick-developing, meaning she wasn’t given typical signs such as coughing etc. Alongside that, he has terrible spine issues (possibly from abuse, which tells me the first vet never REALLY looked at these supposed x-rays and that the story of Ollie’s past is a crock of you know what), and is having disc degeneration. To compensate, his body is producing excess calcium deposits, which is throwing off his internal balance, basically.
Alongside that, the vet found that Ollie has renal failure. An in-home lab test immediately shocked the vet, as she’s never seen his levels and is amazed he is trekking along as if nothing is wrong. For example, one of his counts should be between 12-25. Ollie burst through that with ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY. Because of his kidneys, treating him for both his lung infection, back, renal and seizure conditions means they need to take a very careful route, and very pricey one. Traditional medications can’t be used due to the damage on his kidneys. Ollie was taken home with six new medications and a catheter for home IV injections three times a day. They’ve adjusted their schedules to accommodate his new medication needs. Family is coming by to help. Everyone is pulling for this little guy, who is maintaining a peppy attitude as much as he can.
This morning, Ollie took a turn for the worse. He is having bouts of motor control loss and taking nose dives into walls. His symptoms did not improve over the weekend and Claire is back at the vet. His blood work that was sent out has arrived back, with worse news than anyone needs to hear. To keep him pulling through the next few weeks of kidney issues, Ollie is now being hospitalized to be under 24/7 vet care and monitoring. If you’ve ever had a pet that needs to stay at a vet, you’ll know how insanely these charges rack up and how quickly you are spending thousands you just didn’t have, but could never disagree to. The one winning point for all of this is that Ollie’s liver is a rockstar, and helping process the meds that he is taking while under IV care to reduce the strain on his good kidney. There is a wonderful chance he can conquer this and I believe whole heartedly in him.
Through all this, Claire has never once complained. Never once regretted her decision. Never mentioned the cost. Ollie needed love, he needed this other chance at a better life — and goddamnit, they would give it to him. If it means cutting things here and there on her wedding, finding a bigger bad-er job, going for broke — she will do it.
I don’t want her to have to. This is where I am asking you to do what you can, to help offset the current (and incurring) medical costs to help Ollie keep up the good fight. He DESERVES it and I know he can do this. He is NOT a giver-upper. He doesn’t know what quit means, which is evident by his still being here today. You don’t need to know Claire. You don’t even have to like people. You just have to have compassion for someone who has taken a “healthy” pug and given him a new shot on life, despite the bill.
So Please…
If you have a dollar to spare, five bucks, a twenty you didn’t really need? I urge you to donate it via Pay Pal to TallDrinkofWater85@Gmail.com (laugh if you must, but she actually is super tall!)
Don’t have a dime? I totally understand. Pass this message along for free by posting it on your own blog or linking back to my entry. Post on Twitter. Post on your Facebook. It takes just a few moments and would be sincerely appreciated. If nothing else, Claire says she welcomes each and every positive thought and prayer for Ollie!
“Dogs are miracles with paws.”
good karma, ollie, pets
Compassion
