Give Bear a Chance to Trot Again

Bear is my 13 year old dog. His story is that my husband and I found him on the side of the road while we were on a road trip. It was a cold night, we stopped at a gas station in a small town to fill up and there was this dog (puppy at the time) begging to be let in to the gas station store. No one was paying any mind to him, no one was letting him in. My husband asked the clerk if she knew whoes dog this is or where he had come from. She said she didn't know and that he had been out there for a while. We then decided to interact with the puppy, trying to see if he was friendly, if there was a collar, etc. Turns out he was super sweet, collar free, and full of fleas. Next step was to see if he wanted to jump in our truck, and he did with no hesitation. Everything was a done deal from there on out.

I say "Help Bear Trot Again" because he has always had a little trot to his walk. We think he got hit by a car when he was really little and was forced to heal on his own. His rear legs sort of face outwards and he walks on his tippy toes with them because of the malformation of his hips.

Fast forward to now. Bear has been an extremely healthy dog up until recently. Never needed to hospitalize him, never got hurt, never got into trouble. He was always by my side since the day we found him and never left. As of recently, Bear has been diagnosed with a Thymoma (benign tumor in his chest cavity) and a herniated disc. The reason I bring up the Thymoma is because he went through radiation earlier this year to stop it from growing to prevent any further issues from it pressing on things. This is what maxed out the first half of my Care Credit. Currently, he has undergone surgery for a herniated disc repair so that he can walk again. I have been trying to help it heal without surgery for over a month with no success.

Finally, I got the funds to do the MRI to just diagnose the slipped disc and to ensure there wasn't a spinal tumor. However, now that surgery is the only answer, I don't have enough money left on my care credit to fulfill this. I approved this decision because Bear has not needed barely any medical attention his whole life. Now that he is aging and needs some help, I owe it to him to do what I can now that he needs it. The doctors agreed with me and is why they went forward as well. He is 13 but up until his disc herniation, he acted like he was still 5.

He has so much life and spunk left in him, I can't give up on him. He's been amazing with our 2 kids that came after him, all he wants to do is lay in out in the sun, loves food, and just an overall low maintenance dog.

If I haven't already applied for a credit line increase, applied for Care Credit through my husband, and other avenues of financial help- I would not be writing this story today. Anything helps! We couldn't thank you enough.