Help Sully...

Help For Sully …

Sully came to us as a happy, healthy, 8 week old puppy.

We knew he would be the kindest soul to greet all those coming to our ranch, but also a large and noble giant when someone or something isn’t right.

Sully (his name sake is Sully from Monsters Inc) is a big beautiful 7 month old Bullmastiff puppy who has grown so quickly that we were blown away at the rate in which he was growing.

In December 2024 we took him to the vet just to curiously ask if this was normal. The vet assured us that it was normal, that his feed was perfect, and to keep doing what we were doing. We were told at that time, that his dad has English Mastiff in him as well, so that he may just be pulling from those genetics. We breathed a sigh of relief and started to share Sully’s journey with all of our followers on social media. ❤️

We thought why not!

He’s going to be the size of our foals so we mine as well share his incredible sweetness and personality with all of you as well. Our gentle giant was stealing the hearts of so many. He loved his trips to Home depot and HomeSense and was always overjoyed to be the first to greet anyone who came to visit our ranch. ❤️

But things started to change at the end of January 2025...

Sully’s gait began to get really wobbly and off. Something wasn’t right.

On February 5th, 2025 we took him in right away to the vet clinic and immediately asked for X-rays of his hips as we were concerned about Hip Dysplasia. Sully was put to sleep and X-rays were done. The X-rays came back clear and we then got 3 other vet opinions that said the same thing.

No hip dysplasia.

Sully was put on pain medication and we were told to monitor him and that maybe what was happening was growing pains and would subside in time.

But within a few more days… we knew we had to get him to a specialist. One of the vets who saw him suggested possibly Wobblers, but Sully would need to see someone else to diagnose him.

On Tuesday February 11th we took Sully to Pulse Emergency Clinic.

He was seen by one of the emergency room doctors and he also agreed … Sully has something wrong with his gait and needs to see the Neurologist.

There is only one Neurologist vet in our area and thankfully she is at that emergency clinic we went to. The emergency vet told us they were very busy but to come back on Thursday February 13th at 6am and go through emergency and be seen again... and hopefully the Neurologist could see him at that time.

Thursday Feb 13th we arrived at 5:00am. Sully’s gait was slightly worse at this time and he was again seen by the emergency vet working that day.

She suggested that she wanted the surgeon to see him and would try for Neurology to see him also ,but first the surgeon as maybe it was his hips???

They decided to do another X-ray at this time to check for any infection, and when he was put to sleep the surgeon could examine him more throughly.

This was all done, and the neurologist also came and did an exam on him and looked at the x-rays.

She said that Sully’s physical exam shows that this is not in his brain or neck and therefore this is not wobblers.

The surgeon agrees this is not hip dysplasia and not in his hips.

But where to go from here.... requires an MRI for the vets to see what’s really happening to Sully’s spine and why his gait is like this.

Since the 13th of February Sully’s gait has gotten much worse. Even though he has 2 forms of medication, he now falls every few steps he takes.

Although one would think that Sully would show signs of being an unhappy puppy ..he is not.

He is still this loveable, amazing soul, who is just so happy, wants to be with his kids and people ..but he doesn’t understand why he cant walk and keeps falling over.

We are so worried each time he falls that he will seriously harm himself.

We have layered the home in carpets, he’s on 24/7 supervision, and we are doing all we can to keep him comfortable.

Sully needs an MRI ASAP and possibly he may need surgery.

While we don’t know what’s exactly wrong, the vets can’t diagnose him without the MRI as they suspect a nerve or something is going on within his spine.

The cost of an MRI is between 5-6K and a possibly surgery if needed would be even more.

Never have we ever made a GoFund me to ask for help for our own family, or any of our animals.

We have always been the ones to push through and do whatever it takes to care for them and ourselves.

But here we are …

This is hard for us. We are not the ones who like to ask for help. We like to be the ones to help.

We made this Gofundme because while we always keep money aside for emergency vet care, we are now moving into a busy foaling season on our ranch, and our mares and foals must take priority at this time.

Our ranch and our horses are our livelihood.

With the looming threat of tariffs and economic uncertainty for horse feeds, medication etc we are not prepared for this financially devastating situation with Sully.

Hind sight is 20/20 and boy do we ever wish we had pet insurance at this time.

Anyone who knows Sully or has seen him knows that this big beautiful 7 month old boy, is just the kindest most amazing soul, who deserves to continue to have a shot in this lifetime.

ALL funds donated will go towards Sully’s emergency vet care, MRI scans, surgery if needed, and any and all rehabilitation for Sully.

Again is not easy for us to ask for help, but we know so many of you love Sully and several friends/family have asked for ways they can support him during this time.

We chose Gofundme so that the funds raised are public and transparent, and everyone can see if/when we reach the goal that we estimate is needed if he requires surgery and rehab. (If we happen to go over the amount needed, we will donate any and all additional funds to another animal/shelter in need)

We will be fully transparent with vet bills and costs and keep everyone up to date on whats happening.

You will know where your donations are being spent.

Thank you in advance all for the love and support.

We are grateful for you all.

The Baird Family

River Lane Ranch