Lynxs Emergency Dermatologist Fund
We adopted Lynx late last year from an animal shelter and were informed of an existing health condition he has that requires he be on a strict and expensive diet for life. We were perfectly okay with this because we were otherwise given a clean bill of health. To say it's been a total nightmare would be an understatement.
Long story short we were royally screwed over by the shelter. It was just one problem after another for our little man. Lynx was significantly more sick than we were led to believe. So much so that he has had multiple tests done and various samples taken. He had badly swollen lymph nodes, his anal area was raw, he had a horrendously severe bacterial infection in his ears and a few other things wrong with him. We also found out from our vet that the way the employee/foster carer was feeding him (giving him raw chicken necks) wouldn't have been helping his food allergies at all. We've had to treat some of his issues with expensive creams, special bath treatments, ear drops, antibiotic injections and salt washes just to name a few.
Our vets have gone above and beyond to help us out but Lynx now needs specialist help for his allergies. We all had our fingers crossed that his special diet, expensive shampoos and creams would be enough to control his allergy issues and he actually looked great. Unfortunately he ate two geckos almost a month ago and it caused his allergies to flare up. It was slow at first so we thought it would go away with the way we had been managing it but after about a week it just sped up out of nowhere so we had to book him in with a specialist.
He is now starting to scratch like crazy. The three different style and sized cones we've purchased have been useless. We had to buy a human travel pillow and fashion it into a donut. We've had to buy and alter three different sized sets of dog shoes to try and stop him from scratching. We bought and altered baby clothes. We even purchased gel nails which we opted not to put on him. Nothing has worked 100% and he has even been able to use parts of the furniture to scratch himself which has meant constant rearranging of the house and padding the corners of everything with a solid edge. We can't be with him 24/7 so he has managed to pull out a lot of fur from his tail and licked alot of the fur away from other portions of his body which is causing it to dry and scab over.
His food allergies which cause multiple other health related issues are now going to require a visit to a pet dermatologist where he will be tested for his exact allergies. They will then create a very specific lot of injections to help manage his condition. When we called the earliest appointment available was unfortunately two and a half weeks away (in total about 4 weeks since he ate the geckos). The dermatologist consultation and allergy testing alone is going to cost an estimated $1000. We have no idea how much the injections will cost but they will be for life so we are only hoping for another $500 just to take care of at least the first two months worth of injections and any other initial treatments suggested by the dermatologist. If the cost comes to less than we've estimated we will be making a donation to a different shelter which recently took in a large number of animals from a puppy farm/hoarding situation.
Lynx has had such a rough life. He was found on the streets by a passerby who assumed he was feral because of the condition he was in. He was taken to a shelter and only had one person enquire about him (my other half). Based off certain behaviours he's exhibited around strangers we are also inclined to think that he may have been severely abused before he was found. Even with all the improvement that he has shown with both his behavioural and health problems he is still not out of the woods yet.
However Lynx is now extremely spoilt and very well loved. We just want to make sure that he continues to have the life he deserves. Any support, whether it be by way of a donation or even a share of Lynxs story is much appreciated.