Help Gozer Fund

Hello World,

If you're reading this, you most likely know who we are. But if you found us through a mutual friend, thank you for your time in looking at our fundraiser.

2020 has been a real rough year for everyone. We received a lot of bad news from a lot of friends and we thought for the most part we would clear this hurdle of a year until about three weeks ago.

Gozer is our mixed breed cattle dog that is the light of our lives. She has helped Kira through some of her worst years and stole my heart the moment I met her.  She helps make the downs in life really bearable, and she knows it. Personally, I've always been an animal person. I was lucky to work somewhat in animal husbandry and had a lot of pets in my lifetime, but nothing ever compared to Gozer. Anyone who has ever met her would never forget her. I know everyone says this about their furry friends, but if you know her, I feel you would agree 1,000%.

About three weeks ago, Gozer started refusing to eat and got very picky. She always had a healthy apetite, so we were a bit concerned and kept an eye on her. Things progressively got worse, so after a day or two we brought her to the vet.  She said Gozer was definitely going through some belly issues, but could most likely get better after some dieting since a previous exam back in June came up clear and healthy. With some probiotics and some chicken/rice meals, her health perked up for about a week or so.

The end of last week, things took an unexpected turn for the worse.

Gozer refused all food. Her personality started to drop. She got excited for walks and playing, but her energy was dishearteningly low. No matter what we did, she wouldn't eat. This problem escalated quick. She started losing weight fast. Extreme fecal problems, and then some vomiting. 

On 11/05/20, after two vet visits and some extra blood tests, our vet said that we needed to get an ultrasound. Her proteins were a bit low, and there was definitely either blockage or even worse going on in her G.I. tract. She said the sooner the better, and if she wasn't continuously vomiting to just go through the normal scheduling process. We found a location that would take us the next morning. However, around 10:30PM, Gozer began to vomit everything she tried to eat the last two days.  She wasn't looking good, so we rushed her to the ER.

The facility we brought her to in Iselin, NJ was able to provide us with some x-rays, but didn't have an internal medicine doctor or ultrasounds available. The emergency vet suggested we take x-rays just to be sure that we weren't looking at blockage caused by a foreign object. Everything came up clear.

We were told that she seemed stable after some medication and that we should immediately bring her to the other facility in south jersey to get an ultrasound. At this point, it was 3:30AM, and we were told the other facility would be able to take Gozer without an overnight fee around 4AM. We decided to grab some coffee and head there right away. After arriving and a quick observation, the emergency vet said that we needed to admit her to the hospital to get her some fluids.  This would allow her to safely await for the internal medicine doctor so they could examine her first thing in the morning. The vet was compassionate, but realistic. She reassured us there was a good chance she'll get through this since her other results were regarded fairly well besides this issue.

After a sleepless night and a drive back home without our best friend, we received a phone call at 11:30AM from the internal medicine doctor. He said after an ultra-sound and some more exams, they were, for the most part, able to rule out cancer. They said she was a bit dehydrated and malnourished, so we'd have to keep her there for another day on IV's. We still had to rule out cancer, but this was a good chance that it could be treatable pending testing results.  If we can pinpoint the problem, we can engage in the ups and downs of treatment including possible daily medication and a strict diet.

The problem we are dealing with was the cost of diagnosing. 

Times are tough. Justin is an actor who is somewhat lucky and working, but with his weekly comedy show gig being on hiatus along with Broadway, income isn't going super smoothly or very consistent. Kira works as a part-time Dog-Walker whose hours have been cut due to COVID-19. We've been able to make ends meet, but this vet bill came very unexpectedly and at the worst of times. 

And this is where we humbly ask that you come in.

Anything helps us. We understand that having a pet comes with these responsibilities and we intend to pay our big share.  Anything donated will be strictly used for the "Help Gozer Fund." (i.e. hospital bill, treatments, expenses of new food, etc). We set this page up because of the overwhelming support we've gotten from our friends. Many of your reached out, asking how you could help Gozer, and where to donate. This GoFundMe is a place to support our family, and our fur child. Each donation, even if its 25 cents, is a chance to own stock in one of the most caring creatures on Earth. Each toe bean is priceless, but due to the lack of work in this pandemic, we could really use the help.

As of 11/08/10, Gozer has been happy and home! Blood-tests came up negative for a lot of diseases they were concerned about, so they are leaning towards Irritable Bowel Disease, which would mean she'd need daily medication and a special diet for the rest of her life. The bright side is that with this treatment, she would easily be able to share a few more years with us on this earth. She already has shown a huge increase of improvement in mood, energy, and appetite. Words can't express our sense of relief to see Gozer coming back to her old self and howling for food. We can't thank Garden State Vet Associates enough for the amount of time and care they put into our best girl. We are awaiting Biopsy results to rule out the small possibility of cancer, but the vets are showing confidence that this won't be the case. We're not out of the woods yet, but we aren't ready to take on a future without Gozer, if we don't have to. Unfortunately keeping her alive this weekend was rough on the family financially, but trading our savings in exchange for Gozer's smiling face, velvet ears,  and thumping tail was worth every penny.  She will hopefully many more years of life left to share, and we can't thank everyone enough for their support. 

If you read all this, donate this, share this, we really appreciate you and can't thank you enough. Please reach out to us any time if you have any questions or want to check in on Gozer.

Thank you.

-Kira Redzinak, Justin Schilling, & Gozer the Gozerian.