Blind Dog, Rattlesnake Survivor

My name is Braulio, and this is for my dog Gunnar. Two weeks ago, my wife let our dogs out as usual right before she leaves to go take our kid to dance class. When she called the dogs back, Gunnar, our German Shepherd, returns with his head swelled up like a balloon and tripled in size. My wife called me frantically while I was at work, saying he is salivating profusely and his head is completely swollen! She tells me she is headed to the vet and we hang up and I race over to where she said to meet her. She scooped Gunnar into the vehicle and called the vet. On the way, she discovers that he has double bloody puncture marks in between his eyes and on his forehead. She calls the vet and they recommended he go to the nearest animal ER, they carry antivenin. Now my wife calls me again, to tell me the change of plans. We both pulled a U turn and headed twenty minutes away to the ER. My wife arrived first with the doctors and nurses meeting her outside since she called ahead. They brought him in and immediately started treating, he wouldn't have made it if they didn't start treatment prior to receiving payment. When I arrived and he heard my voice, he stood up in the ER and looked for me. We struggled to come up with the money for the treatment, pulled from all our resources, took out loans, even our 11 year old kid pulled out her savings just to save our family. After a roller coaster of a week in the hospital, between his blood levels dropping and the venom beginning to reinvenomate, we get to bring our boy home. His face swelling has gone down, but he seems to be totally blind. Its been difficult to see him try and acclimate back to normal life after beinging blind. He is just as happy as he was, prior to being blind. He is still responding to all his commands and tricks. Which leads me to believe he spirit isnt broken like I wouldve assumed. He is also my very first dog, and my best friend.

The doctors and nurses at the Veterinary Emergency Group did an amazing job with treating our boy. However, we took a huge hit financially and are struggling big time balancing work, paying back loans, taking care of our one blind and two non blind dogs, cats, and kids. We are so grateful to have Gunner home! We would greatly

appreciate any help that you could contribute to help relieve the ER debt and continued care for Gunner! He is such a blessing to our family and such an amazing dog. Anything helps! Prayers are welcome and any additional resources would be graciously accepted. Thank you so much for reading and for your consideration.