Help fund Toro's leg surgery

Dear friends of Toro and other dog lovers,

We need your help...

Some of you already know Toro's story, but for those of you who don't... this is Toro's backstory:

Toro was found tied to a fence with a heavy chain around his neck in an abandoned house. He was brought to the Town of Hempstead Shelter, where he became a longtimer, spending more than 900 days there.

In 2020, we started following Toro on Twitter and Instagram and fell in love with him, but we lived in an apartment building that didn't allow pets. In 2022 I surprised my spouse with a birthday gift, a visit to the shelter to see Toro face-to-face. The best gift ever!!! It was love at first sight, and we knew we would be Toro's furever home! Our circumstances changed, we moved out of the apartment, and we were able to adopt Toro. Finally!

The first few months with Toro brought many joys and challenges. The biggest challenge was living with a dog with a traumatic past. We were told that Toro suffered from sundowning, serious trust issues, and guarding. Toro's anxiety heightened when night fell, and he was skittish at sudden sounds and movements. Things began to improve immensely when we started individual training classes. He became more confident and trustworthy. After a few weeks, Toro started looking forward to his training classes. He was a faster learner than we were! He even began to feel comfortable around the other dogs in the class. He learned simple commands like sit, wait, down.

His personality gradually changed for the better. He would allow us to touch him more and more, and eventually, he would approach us for cuddles.

Every small step became a milestone. We took a family road trip, and he was comfortable in the car throughout the ride. He began to love the outdoors and became a good hiker. Now, he loves to explore fields and walk outside, except on rainy and snowy days. He is now used to other animals like deer, cats, chickens, and non-reactive dogs.

A month ago, after one of our walks, we started to notice a small limp. After taking him to the vet as quickly as possible, he was diagnosed with a luxated patella and a torn ACL ligament, which exacerbates his arthritis, affects his mobility, causes pain, and severely affects his quality of life. They also saw some bone fragments in the X-ray. We decided to get a second opinion, but the diagnosis was the same; Toro would need surgery ☹️.

Toro urgently needs surgery on his leg. We caught it early enough that she has the opportunity to continue living a good doggie life! Fixing Toro's leg will allow him to continue to walk unsupported, go potty, and stand up by himself to get cuddles. Most importantly, the surgery will help Toro to continue to lead an active, adventure-filled doggy life and hopefully slow down the degeneration of his joints.

Toro will be 9 years old in October. After being found abused and abandoned, spending three years in the shelter, and finally finding a loving home with doting hoomans, this senior doggo deserves to spend the rest of his years happy, spoiled, and pain-free. Toro still has a lot of spunk left in him. There are still trails to hike and squirrels to chase.

We created this fundraiser because it is not financially possible for us to completely cover the surgery and the added expenses at this time. We estimated the amount based on Toro's surgery, associated X-rays, medication, products for post-surgery recovery, follow-up visits, and GFM processing fees.