Help offset Choco’s mounting emergency vet bill

Hi furiends, my name is Choco. I’m a rescue from a high kill shelter in South Korea. I’ve spent my short life taking care of my mom. As of October 18, I’m the one needing care. That day I wasn’t feeling my usual, rambunctious self. Something was off. I was shivering, lethargic, didn’t feel like eating, drank and peed A LOT, had a fever, swollen lymph node and vomited nonstop. I was in so much pain and discomfort. Vets didn’t know what was wrong with me since I had clean blood work two weeks prior. Each day mom would take me to get a recheck. Fever and swelling went down, but food didn’t. New blood tests on October 21 revealed that I had acute stage 3 kidney failure and my body was going into sepsis. Exsqueeze me, come again? I’m only 5yo!

Mom was beside herself with anguish. She rushed me straight to Canada West Veterinary Specialists, where I spent two agonizing weeks in the ICU on continuous IV antibiotics and round-the-clock care (totaling $20k) until my levels were back to normal. Turns out I had leptospirosis, a disease found in the urine of infected wildlife (squirrels, mice, rats, raccoons, coyotes, etc) that can spread to humans. To prevent cross-contamination and to assess my urine output accurately, I also had a catheter inserted. How uncomfortable, especially when I wanted to hump the pillows. My pawrents had to suit up every time they came to see me. They weren’t even allowed to give me kisses for fear they would catch it. Mom did anyways, but don’t tell the doctors that. The day (November 2) I was discharged was pure heaven. No more isolation, being woken up every 2hrs for tests, pokes and prods from needles, fluid therapy, yucky hospital food. FREEDOM!

I just want to be a happy and healthy boy again, but that’s going to take time. With two badly injured kidneys, my recovery will be slow. My new normal for the next 14 days consists of:

All of this has taken a toll on my mom. She’s depleted mentally, physically, emotionally and financially. Her personal savings took a hit the longer I received emergency medical care. Pet insurance only covers so much. Addt’l vet expenses were paid out-of-pocket. With the ongoing WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike since May, auditions have been trickling in. Mom has a hard time asking for help. She’s usually the one giving it. Your donation would help to offset my mounting vet bills. No amount is too small.

Thanks to the exceptional care provided by Drs. Quinlan, Henriksson, Doley, Cheng and their entire team, I can confidently say that I’m on the mend. My blood pressure’s normal, creatinine and BUN levels decreasing, meds are treating and relieving my symptoms, and I even developed a robust antibody response during infection. Please keep me in your prayers, as I’m not out of the woods yet. CKD would be a bitch to get. And I’m not talking the four-legged kind.

Wags & licks,

Choco