For The Love of Angus
Hi, my name is Emily and this is my boy Angus he’s an Australian Shepherd. We’ve been together since July 13, 2014 when I brought him home at 11 weeks old from Richmond, Virginia. He has been my trusted Netflix and chill, trail hiking and potato chip munching companion for the last 6 years, he’s the first dog I’ve ever raised on my own and best gift anyone could ask for! Some of his favorite pass times are playing frisbee or catch, patrolling the kitchen floor while mom cooks dinner for any tasty bits of human food that falls into his domain or simply kicking back with a trusty nap in bed while mom watches sappy RomComs.
On February 3rd, 2021 our lives and especially his changed forever, what seemed to be the start of a normal Wednesday turned into a long drive to the emergency room.. Angus was admitted to Animal Emergency Center of York, and X-rays were done they showed he had what we thought were just two blockages, one in his stomach and the other in his intestines. With no hope that the blockages would pass on their own they sent us to Lancaster’s Pets + to have surgery with Dr. Mark Huber, he prepared Angus for surgery and started the removal process of the blockages. This was the point that we received a phone call that would leave us drifting into the bottomless unknown, Dr. Huber let us know that the removal may be inoperable, when he opened Angus they ran into a problem, the surgeon stated he tried to run the small bowel to get to the blockage but that was not possible because the entirety of the small and large bowel were contained within a tight ball and entirely adhered to itself, how he described it was like his intestines were twisted together like a pretzel, making it extremely difficult to get to the blockage. But with perseverance and determination Dr.Huber managed to do a blunt and sharp dissection of the adhered bowel to located and removed a 4” by 1/2 inch diameter fiber, after examination of the fiber they believed it to be large chunk of grass from Angus’s stomach... At this point Dr. Huber calls to let us know Angus’s made it through surgery and will be closing him up, then to start monitoring his progress over the course of his 36 hour observation hold. We finally get the long awaited call that Angus is doing well and that we can finally bring him home! In the examination room Dr. Huber goes over the entirety of the surgery and explains the challenges he faced during, at this point he says “in his 20 years of being a veterinarian he’s never seen a dogs insides look this way”, due to the severity of the adhered bowels this could cause long term problems he stated, which is why he closed Angus up so that further tests can be done to gauge how serious the situation is.. He goes on to advise that he’s called in for a consultation at the University of Pennsylvania to see some of the country’s best specialist to review Angus’s very peculiar case.
This is where your help comes in, at this point we have no idea if Angus was born with this condition or if it was something that happened over time, all we’ve had confirmed is if he were to get another blockage before addressing his other internal issues, it will not be operable because it was next to impossible getting to the problem the first time. Reading this you can imagine that it was the last thing a pet owner wants to hear.
The University of Pennsylvania houses some of the best veterinarian specialists in the country. On February 26, 2021, they are going to be running a number of test to form a diagnosis and a plan of action to correct the problems. Once his entangled and fused intestines have been further reviewed we will be able to form the best possible options for my child. I refuse to leave any option left unturned to give Angus a fighting chance at a future. To get him back to running through farm fields after frisbees or hike trails with the most beautiful views.
This is only the start of his journey to a healthy life, the vet bills are starting to pour in and will keep coming till a diagnosis is found which will lead to more surgery. I need your help whether it’s sharing this link, adding Angus to your prayers or donations anything big or small will help save my best friend life. I know it’s a lot to ask in these trying times and more people than myself are struggling to survive during the current state of the world we live in, but I have to try, he is my entire world and has kept me going everyday these past six years especially this last year, so it’s my turn to fight for him! 
