Lizzy's Liver Shunt Surgery
Donation protected
**campaign amount has been adjusted due to in person donations** Thank you all so much for caring about our Lizzy girl!
Many of you may remember Lizzy, the Miniature Schnauzer who got lost on a cold January day. We are forever grateful to the community for pulling together to help us find our girl. Sadly, we need to ask your help one more time.
Lizzy has had reoccurring UTI's since we've had her and she's not even 2 years old yet. We tried treating her with antibiotics but it became apparent there was an underlying issue so we requested an ultrasound. The results of which are heart breaking. Our Lizzy girl has a liver shunt, which means, some of her blood is bypassing her liver and her body can't filter/process waste and toxins properly. We have two options for her:
1: We can treat her with diet and medications until her body becomes resistant to the medicine. During this time she is likely to develop seizures and neurological issues. At that point, if we decided to do the surgery it would be too late because she'd be too ill. This leaves us to give her the best life possible for as long as we can. Studies show with this option most dogs don't survive past 5 years of age and those 5 years probably won't be very comfortable for her as she'll continuously be sick.
2: The second option is she can have surgery to repair the shunt This procedure has an 85% success rate. When the shunt is repaired the liver will be able to start processing waste and toxins properly and it can actually, within a 2 month or so time span, regrow to a normal size.
We are asking for all of you to please come together and pray for us, and if you can, donate towards her surgery and follow up care. She's a member of our family and it's our promise, as parents, to do all we can.
This isn't an easy decision to make and we've gone back and forth as to what to do and how to proceed. I don't think we could live with ourselves if we didn't try to give her the surgery.
Thank you all so very much.
Many of you may remember Lizzy, the Miniature Schnauzer who got lost on a cold January day. We are forever grateful to the community for pulling together to help us find our girl. Sadly, we need to ask your help one more time.
Lizzy has had reoccurring UTI's since we've had her and she's not even 2 years old yet. We tried treating her with antibiotics but it became apparent there was an underlying issue so we requested an ultrasound. The results of which are heart breaking. Our Lizzy girl has a liver shunt, which means, some of her blood is bypassing her liver and her body can't filter/process waste and toxins properly. We have two options for her:
1: We can treat her with diet and medications until her body becomes resistant to the medicine. During this time she is likely to develop seizures and neurological issues. At that point, if we decided to do the surgery it would be too late because she'd be too ill. This leaves us to give her the best life possible for as long as we can. Studies show with this option most dogs don't survive past 5 years of age and those 5 years probably won't be very comfortable for her as she'll continuously be sick.
2: The second option is she can have surgery to repair the shunt This procedure has an 85% success rate. When the shunt is repaired the liver will be able to start processing waste and toxins properly and it can actually, within a 2 month or so time span, regrow to a normal size.
We are asking for all of you to please come together and pray for us, and if you can, donate towards her surgery and follow up care. She's a member of our family and it's our promise, as parents, to do all we can.
This isn't an easy decision to make and we've gone back and forth as to what to do and how to proceed. I don't think we could live with ourselves if we didn't try to give her the surgery.
Thank you all so very much.
Organizer
C Chick
Organizer
Wilmington, MA