Help Shaka get surgery

Hi, my name is Jocelyn and the cutie in the picture is my baby girl Shaka. She is a 3-year-old Rottie mixed with Labrador. She is my heart and soul; I don’t know what my life would be if it wasn't for her. She has energy that can last the entire day; even with taking her to run at the park and continuous long walks, it’ll never be enough for her.

Shaka came into my life about 2 years ago. Her old owner got her when she was about 3 months old and didn’t realize the time and responsibility there is with raising a high-energy breed. He kept her in the basement in a huge cage till she was 8 months and then decided to take her to a shelter. The old owner was a friend's uncle, and when I heard, I knew I had to take her in immediately. There was no way I could’ve let him do such a thing when Shaka didn’t deserve to be treated that way in the first place. The day she came home, I felt a light in my life. She has been my motivation to keep going in life to make sure I am able to give her the best life she deserves and nothing less.

My main reason for this GoFundMe page is to help raise money for her bilateral ligament surgery repair. During the end of August, we had taken Shaka to the emergency vet clinic. I had taken her to run that day at the park as normal. After we came back home, she laid down for a little, and when it was time for her to come eat, she wouldn’t get up. She started to drag herself over to me and couldn’t bear to stand up. Once we finally got her to stand, we noticed how she was dragging her right hind leg and couldn’t bend it properly to walk. We immediately brought her to the emergency vet and got her checked out. The vet said she might have an ACL tear, but they wouldn’t be able to tell for sure without X-rays, or that it could’ve just been a sprain. We got anti-inflammatory medications for her and waited about a week or two to see if it truly was a sprain or if she needed X-rays. Over the following weeks, she looked better and didn’t have that problem until one night it happened again, and we realized it wasn’t a sprain and had to be something serious. We scheduled an appointment with her primary vet, got X-rays done, and were told she has bilateral ligament rupture. My heart dropped when the doctor told us the results. The first thing that came into my mind was how could I not realize how much pain she has been in. How long has she been in pain? I started to beat myself up for it. The doctor then recommended minimizing her walking. To let her go outside to do her business and that’s it. All I could think of was how do I explain to Shaka, who has so much energy, that we can’t do our activities anymore. That she has to stay calm and rest until the surgery. It has been a challenge to keep her calm and relaxed. Some days it’s controllable, and other days it’s not. My family and I have been doing the best we can to try to keep her stimulated at home without having her force or put any pressure on her hind legs.

All I want to do is make sure that she gets better and that we are able to go on our walks and runs soon. It’s hard knowing when your kid isn’t well and that your best doesn’t feel good enough.

I would appreciate all help that anyone is able to give us. Shaka is my life; she’s my kid, and I would go to the moon and back to make sure she gets the amazing life that she deserves. This is just a battle in our journey, and we hope and pray she’ll come out stronger than ever.

Thank you!