Help mako survive his attack from an alligator

Hi!

5/23 update as of 4pm. I’ve raised the gofund me as the newest way of trying to figure out the fluid situation is by doing another surgery. Mako will be going into surgery tomorrow. They think something was possibly missed and that he may have an abscess somewhere that is causing the fluid & inflammation since we are so many days into this. All prayers needed for surgery tomorrow for the best boy in the world. I’ve also raised the amount since mako is my source of income. Him & I work together as an explosives detection team. I haven’t made any money to put towards makos bills besides my small paracord business.

5/23 Our new cost for the visit from Saturday 5/20 to today 5/23 is $4500. The fluid was looking inflammatory under the microscope. They are going to put him under again later & run another CT scan. They think there may be an abscess on his lung that is producing the fluid. I am praying that isn’t the case because that is infection. I’m hoping it’s his body just trying to deal with the trauma still. Once the CT is done later we will know more. They will possibly put another chest tube in his right side to drain the fluid that keeps accumulating. So some steps backwards but besides the fluid mako is doing good in spirit. He’s been the sweetest & best boy. Just praying that the fluid will stop & that it isn’t infection so they don’t have to do any surgery.

5/22 Mako is still getting chest taps to remove the excess fluid. The vet called me around 8:30 tonight. His fluid level isn’t staying static in his pleural cavity. They are going to keep him over night again & they plan on doing a CT scan again tomorrow to see if they can possibly pin point his fluid. Thank you to everyone who has donated and said prayers for mako everyday. He’s been admitted for 10 days now with intensive care & it has not been cheap. Your donations have saved his life so far & I am so grateful. Thank you everyone still a million times.

5/20 update. Around 3 pm they discharged mako to come home with me. About an hour into our two hour car ride home he started coughing. I took video & sent it to the vet. He started coughing more so consistent so we drove two hours back to UF. 10:30 pm mako was admitted back to UF & he will be staying over night to be monitored. Upset I had to leave him again & that he’s coughing. Hoping he does okay over night & the coughing will resolve.

5/19 update. We are $8000 in to just the UF vet. One week since it’s happened. I can not believe it’s been a week. It’s been the longest week of my life. Mako decided to chew his chest tube out last night. Which ended up letting air in. They got all of the air out & currently have no chest tube in either side. They took the left one out on 4/18 because the fluid was less. Good news. They are going to monitor the right side & see if he they need to put the chest tube back in or not. So still day by day hour by hour. No Infection is present still. Thank goodness. Thank you for all the help. All the prayer and all the kind words. No way to repay you guys.

5/17 Update: Mako is doing well considering the circumstances. We are still not sure how long he is staying. It all dependent on the fluid. The CT scan couldn’t pin point where the fluid / blood was coming from. Not necessarily a bad thing as they think it may be from all the inflammation. They added another chest tube in for drainage so he currently has bilateral chest tubes, a central line for any blood draws & a catheter. They are recommending hyperbaric oxygen therapy. They believe that can help a lot with his inflammation, fluid / blood that is filling up around his lungs & heal some of the soft tissue damage. It could help with keeping infection away as well.

5/15 update as of this am. They drained 400 ml of fluid / blood yesterday from around his lungs. They wanted to see if it would fill back up or not over night & it did. He goes in for a CT scan at 11 am. Prayer & wishes for the best & that the CT doesn’t show anything that they can’t fix. He is pretty stable & being such a good strong boy. Thank you to everyone. Your kind words, thoughts & donations mean way more than you know..

*UPDATE* mako has been transferred to UF emergency vet per recommendation of his last vet. They couldn’t fix the bleeding and wanted him in the best possible plans. Mako has different routes he could go. They are ranging from $3000-12,000 on top of the $7000 we already paid. We will probably sit at about $15,000 since he’s been moved to specialized emergency vet. He is staying there & not sure how long. Everything is so helpful. Every donation is life saving for him and you guys are helping to save my world, my best friend my best boy in the whole word. It’s an hour by hour situation because things can go up or down depending on how his body wants to heal / any infection that may happen. You guys are such blessings, more than you know. Thank you everyone for caring so much about my best boy **

All the money in this will go towards his vets cost & recovery. We aren’t sure how long he will stay at the vet, he’s pretty stable but as the days go on he’s having fluid build up in other places & they are keeping a watchful eye on blood work in case of infection from the alligator.

some of you know mako, some of you don’t. Mako a 3 year old Belgian Malinois. He is my world. He loves all people and is just a happy go lucky dog. Him & I work together as an explosives detection team and currently work in port Canaveral. we were swimming in a foot of water & an alligator grabbed him. We all jumped on the gator & somehow got it to let him go. We rushed him to an emergency vet & the amazing staff has worked miracles. He has 5 punctures wounds, 3 broken ribs & a mild hemothorax . The biggest thing now since he’s out of surgery is keeping it clean, not getting infected & hopefully the hemothorax goes away. We about $7000 into this so far. So any donation big or small & any kind words & prayers go a long long way! Thank you so much.

the vet staff at Oviedo emergency Animal clinic has been amazing. They have treated mako like one of their own & for that I am even more grateful. Our world has been turned upside down. Mako goes to work with me, then comes home with me. We fish together, run errands together, anywhere I am, he’s there. This has been a roller coaster but the outpouring of kind words, prayers & all of your support is so insane. I am so grateful for everyone that has reached out, donated & supported my small shop but most of all mako. All this money will go towards vet bills & his recovery. He’s currently staying at the vet where he can get the best care. He’s hospitalization level 3 so that alone is $250 a day just for him to stay. But it includes all his medications & constant blood work to make sure he isn’t getting infections & his red blood cell count is staying where it needs to be. The vets are in shock he’s alive but they are saying he’s a total badass in all this.

a million times thank you to everyone!!