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Help Little Obi Breathe

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Hi, my name is Sarah and yesterday my family received some devastating news. My precious Shih Tzu, Obi, has a mass on his larynx preventing him from breathing well. I’m asking for any help to support the medical care he has already received and still needs.

Last year around July/August we began to see Obi’s breathing change. Being immediately concerned we took him to the vet where they started him on allergy meds in hopes of helping. Although he did sound slightly better, there was no significant improvement. One night on the way home from a friend’s his breathing became extremely distressed and he passed out in my arms.

We got him straight back into the vet where he suggested Obi should have soft palate surgery, which is a common procedure for small scrunched faced dogs like him. They felt like this should be the root of the problem. He was scheduled for surgery in October and unfortunately the laser they use for surgery broke. We waited for awhile, but eventually scheduled for Obi to have his surgery at another clinic on December 27th of last year. The surgery did not help at all.

Meanwhile with all this going on with Obi, my mom was admitted to the hospital multiple times, having emergency surgery to remove her gallbladder and then weeks later for pancreatitis. While in the hospital, they also found a mass on her kidney. She then went to a specialist where they believed it to probably be cancer. They are waiting to remove it till later this year once she’s all healed up from everything else. Thankfully, cancer on the kidney apparently moves slowly and the spot they found is small right now. We had to push back taking Obi to the vet because of all this though. Once we finally saw the vet again they were very alarmed to see his breathing had no improvement.

We were recommended over to a specialist at this point. It was a bit of a wait to get in, but we finally got in for his appointment yesterday, April 1st… I wish this all was actually a cruel April Fools joke. They put him under to run all kinds of tests and scans. This is when we found out the horrible news that he has a mass on his larynx. We are still waiting for some results back to find out if it’s cancerous or not. It appears to be inoperable based on its location. For now they have started him on a steroid in hopes of shrinking it and allowing better air flow.

I’ve lost all of my animals, 4 dogs and 2 cats, the past 5 years all one right after another every single year. All but one of them were from old age though. I can’t lose Obi too. He’s only 4 years old, a baby. He’s all I have left. With my severe anxiety preventing me from doing much of anything he’s been one of my only sources of joy. He goes everywhere with me. He used me to fly with me as an ESA (Emotional Support Animal). He was even permitted to come to work with me for awhile back when I was still able to work because of my anxiety. He sleeps next to me every night. He’s just the happiest little guy and he’s so smart. He loves to play with all of his so, so many toys, even knowing most of them by name.

If you are able to give anything at all my family and I would greatly appreciate anything. Even if you can’t give anything please pray for my sweet baby. His medical bills are already in the thousands and we’re dealing with my mom’s medical bills also being thousands with more to come for him and her both. As of right now we’re just hoping these steroids help while keeping him as calm as possible since any excitement, anxiety, or heat make his breathing even more labored. Hoping and praying to hear back any good news in the coming days.

Thanks everyone. I’ll provide any updates as we receive them.

Donations 

  • Rachael Popp
    • $50
    • 8 mos
  • William Driskill
    • $25
    • 8 mos
  • Ajay Kundlas
    • $300
    • 8 mos
  • Mary Ann Mandola
    • $50
    • 8 mos
  • Dalton Graves
    • $20
    • 8 mos

Organizer

Sarah Farmer
Organizer
Winchester, KY

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