Felicia* reached out to Feeding Pets of the Homeless because her 5-year-old American Bulldog, Chucky, needed major assistance.
Felicia was very concerned for him, and her case manager could hear in her voice how upset she was not being able to help him with her own remedies and knowledge from when she used to work at a veterinary clinic.
She shared that Chucky had a wart on his rectum causing issues when he would go to the bathroom. It was a puffy, open wound that she noticed was growing as each day passed. After sending in information to verify her homelessness, they were approved for treatment.
Her case worker started working to find a veterinarian that could see Chucky ASAP. He was approved for an exam with a participating hospital the very same day. The doctor gave him antibiotics and cream in hopes to heal the wart and avoid any procedure.
Five days later, Chucky needed to be seen again. The wart had started bleeding and was not getting any better.
Chucky was seen again, and the doctor communicated that he would need the wart surgically removed. On surgery day, the doctor performed precautionary bloodwork to ensure it was safe for Chucky to go under anesthesia. When the results came back, it showed he had possible renal failure and they would have to hold off on the surgery.
The veterinarian performed a urinalysis and they had to wait for the results to consult with internal medicine to see if he can undergo anesthesia and they could proceed with the surgery in the next few days.
The results from the urinalysis came in and the consult was done showing it was safe for Chucky to undergo anesthesia, but his blood pressure needed to be monitored constantly.
Unfortunately, this hospital did not have the proper equipment to monitor his blood pressure during surgery. Feeding Pets of the Homeless got to work to find a new hospital for Chucky.
Her case manager could hear the concern and worry in her voice when she had to explain that they must find another hospital but can’t say when exactly he will be seen. This was a very upsetting and concerning situation for Felicia, she did not want to lose her best friend!
Chucky was seen at another partner veterinarian and a few diagnostics were performed. An estimate was provided. Sadly, the estimate was a lot more than anticipated and with funds running low Felicia would need to gather more resources to fund his surgery.
Another organization was willing to assist with $1,000 towards our pledge of $1,200. This, however, did not come close to the low end of the estimate from the current hospital.
The search continued to find a low-cost vet with the tools necessary to safely perform the surgery at an affordable cost. At last, a small veterinary hospital was contacted and stated they can perform surgery. They needed to perform new diagnostics due to the last results being a week old and things could have changed within that time.
All results came back the same day and the hospital’s doctor was able to perform the surgery. They successfully remove the mass without causing damage or concern to Chucky’s health. Feeding Pets of the Homeless contributed $2,000 towards Chucky’s care. We are grateful that additional funds were provided by a generous organization to help with Chucky’s care.
Not all our emergency veterinary care cases are easy and quick. It can take our case managers multiple days to find hospitals equipped to handle the issues these pets are presenting as each hospital has different capabilities. We are proud of how hard our case managers work each day to save the lives of these pets.
*name changed for privacy
