Lauren and Josh, for their beautiful dog Oscar

Hey! My name is Amy and I am raising money for my beautiful friends Lauren and Josh, and their beloved dog Oscar.

Unfortunately, while Lauren and Josh were away visiting family in NZ with their 16 month old son, Oscar was taken seriously ill after being bitten by a paralysis tick.

Oscar was being minded by a sitter and she contacted them to say she was taking him to the vet as he was wobbly on his legs and vomiting. She rushed him to a vet as soon as they opened; Lauren spoke to them on the phone and they said he was physically fine and they had checked him for ticks but referred them to do neurological tests on their return in 3 days and he could go home. By the time of the end of the appointment he was worse….he couldn’t walk and was starting to struggle breathing and the nurse said she wouldn’t take him home if it was her dog. So luckily their sitter rushed him to SASH vet hospital where they immediately found 2 ticks; one on his eyelid and one on his neck. They removed them and gave him anti venom but he had rapidly deteriorated.

After being in the ICU he developed aspiration pneumonia and has since been put on a ventilator and heavily sedated. Oscar needs more time for the paralysis to wear off enough for him to start breathing on his own and for the pneumonia to clear. Oscar has pet insurance but in this case it only covers $1000 of a $14000 tick treatment. The ventilation that he needs to breathe whilst recovering is $2,200 for every 12hours which he’s been on since Monday to give him the best chance of recovery.

There’s nothing Lauren and Josh wouldn’t do to keep their family whole but with the financial toll mounting, it will soon be beyond what they’re able to support. They have a young son and work super hard but these vet bills are extremely high.

If Oscar can find the strength in his lungs to breathe on his own over the next 48 hours, he will have a good chance of pulling through but will need some additional hospital care before he can fully recover and return home.

Lauren and Josh wouldn’t dream of asking for help so I’ve created this page to ask that if you can share any amount of money, even if it’s just a dollar, it will help. Oscar comes to the salon where Lauren works with me every day and I can’t imagine him not being there with us, and with my dog Hamish.

Asking for help isn’t easy but any support of any size would help to bring Oscar home from hospital if he can find the strength. Please keep him in your thoughts for us all.