Jerry's Kidney Removal Surgery & Recovery

Hi there, we're Sam and Marianne and as a last resort, we're seeking help to get our 3-month-old Mini Golden Doodle "Jerry" (named after Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead) urgently needed testing, kidney removal surgery and possible recovery.

Marianne, Jerry and I live in a small apartment in Austin, TX and in the short time with him, we have grown to love and accept him as a cherished part of our little family. We adopted Jerry quickly after moving in together at the beginning of the year and since then he has been everything we wanted in a puppy and more. When Jerry isn't peeing on our carpets or chewing on our socks, he prances around our apartment, seeking attention and love from one or both of us. Since day one Jerry has been glued to our sides, doing all the things puppies should do. Jerry goes with us everywhere! Don't be surprised if you see us in Target or the grocery store with Jerry on one of our shoulders or wrapped up in a blanket in our cart. You'd think he was a baby!

Our issues started when we brought Jerry home and he was "dribbling" or "leaking" pee around our apartment and when we were holding him. At first, we attributed this behavior to being a puppy or getting overly excited. The problem continued when Jerry was unprovoked and we knew that this was more than just puppy problems. We booked the next available appointment and took him to our local veterinary office. Along with getting Jerry up to date on vaccinations, the vet preventively put him on antibiotics - with hopes that it was UTI or bladder infection but after 10 days of antibiotics to no prevail we decided to get a second opinion. That's when we took Jerry to ATX Animal Clinic in Austin, TX. Dr. Hardy pointed out Jerry's belly, saying that it was severely distended and he should get x-rays immediately. After a urine sample, stool sample and x-rays, Dr. Hardy concluded that Jerry has a massive growth in his abdomen. We could see on the x-rays that all of his intestines were pushed to one side. Dr. Hardy then referred us to Sage Imagery in Round Rock, TX for an emergency ultrasound which uncovered that his left kidney was full of fluid and enlarged to over 9.4cm in diameter. We're being told that Jerry's Ureter (which is supposed to travel from his kidney to his bladder) is going from his kidney to his prostate, which in short, is causing his kidney to expand and be nonfunctional. We've been advised that his kidney needs to be removed as soon as possible and that he can still live a long, happy life with the other kidney (which after a kidney panel was found to be functioning perfectly). As you can probably guess, this news was earth-shattering for us, especially with Jerry being so young and full of love and life. With no alternatives to surgery other than euthanasia, we are going to do everything we can to get Jerry the care he deserves.

We're humbly asking for any contributions toward Jerry's estimated $7,000-$13,000 veterinary costs for further testing and surgery as well as the approximately $1,300 we've spent to identify the root cause of Jerry's issues. After discussing the matter further with surgeons in our area, we've been advised to speak with internal medicine before we can proceed with the surgery. Anything you can contribute to help is greatly appreciated.

We'd also like to thank the folks at ATX Animal Clinic and Sage Imaging for their extreme attention to detail and compassion toward us and Jerry.

Thanks for taking the time to read our story and we hope we can update you all with good news soon for little Jerry!