Charlee’s medical expenses

Hi everyone, my name is Cassandra.

First and foremost I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to click on Charlee’s page to read his story.

Charlee is turning 9 in May, but he is still a puppy at heart. He is the most gentle and stoic boy I’ve ever met and loves hard.

It’s been a very long and emotional year in and out of veterinarian offices and the hospital with Charlee. He has a very sensitive belly and goes through phases where it leaves him feeling lethargic, immobile, and almost paralyzed. He experiences GI upset and his stools would also be inconsistent leading me to take him to get checked out. Thousands of dollars have gone to vet bills for emergency visits, blood work, and 2 ultrasounds on 2 separate occasions to rule out obstructions and organ disfunction. The results stated that there was no evidence of masses, tumors but minimally reactive lymph nodes. The doctor stated that it could be due to the stomach upset / gastroenteritis.

With that being said, over the past 6 months I’ve noticed that while walking Charlee one of his back legs would randomly give out. It wouldn’t cause him to fall but none the less, it was something new. It started to get progressively worse and I thought it could be some mild arthritis due to his age and breed. About 1 month ago in January I noticed that when I would touch his lower back he would get startled and would consistently happen. Less than a week ago I noticed his neck seemed swollen and fluid filled. 3 days ago when I came home he was blocking my door and not allowing me to get inside. It was like he was paralyzed. The following morning at 4:00 am Charlee was whimpering, crying and couldn’t move. I comforted him for awhile until he fell back asleep. By 5:30 am I tried to get him to come outside with me to go potty. At first he wouldn’t move but eventually got up. When we got outside he tinkled, proceeded to take a few steps, but immediately collapsed to the ground. I tried to get him excited to eat but nothing was exciting him. (Charlee always runs right back inside because he knows it’s time to eat.) I tried to lift him up 4 separate times but each time all four legs would give out on him and he just could stand up. I checked his eyes, but it didn’t look like he was seizing. He finally was able to sit for a moment before getting the drive to follow me back inside on his own. I fed him half of his meal but he immediately laid back down and was immobile as this point.

We went to his normal vet where they did an assessment, blood work, and prescribed him pain medication. Ruling out arthritis, and basically telling me “I don’t know what is wrong with him, let’s wait to get the blood work back and go from there.” The lab work was taken to test for hypothyroidism, liver and kidney, and lymes disease. It was obvious when we left the vets office that something wasn’t right. He was in serious pain and not acting like himself.

About two hours later we ended up at the animal hospital where they took him in the back right away. Hours later, and it was clear that the Dr that examined Charlee had agreed something was clearly wrong. All the signs and symptoms I discovered on Charlee were also recognized by the Dr and the neurologist. With all of this being said there could be a few things wrong, and we know it is spinal related. It could be a herniated disc, and infection like meningitis or some kind of tumor or cancer. We meet with the neurologist on Tuesday the 14th for Charlee to get an MRI which will cost me between $3,000 - $4,000. My funds for Charlee’s medical expenses have been essentially exhausted, but my heart is more so shattered. I’m hoping to get to the bottom of what is going on with my boy and any help is greatly appreciated.

If you’ve gotten this far, I just want to thank you for taking the time to read about Charlee. We both appreciate it