Saving Rufus

Hi, my name is Emily and my 4 month old puppy Rufus has been a very poorly little boy. He’s had a very high temperature, excruciating pain and a wobbly head. We have spent the last week and a half in and out of the hospital and vet clinics.

It started with his head wobbling out of the blue and being unable to stand. Rushed him to the hospital and he had his first overnight stay with a suspected toxin. They pushed fluid and did some blood tests and he was sent home the next morning feeling much better. Unfortunately a few days later Rufus was ill again with no energy, refusing food, occasional yelping and a temperature. We were in and out of the vets for 2 days and he wasn’t getting any better. At 2am early hours Thursday Rufus’s head started shaking and I rushed him to the hospital again. From there they referred him to a specialist vetnary hospital where he’s had an MRI and a spinal tap. The vets are treating for meningitis and have started him on a steroid treatment while we wait over the weekend for the lab results.

As you can imagine the whole experience has been very traumatic for me and him, as well as incredibly costly. I have already exhausted the limits of his insurance and now find myself with overwhelming vet bills for his care that I simply cannot afford. He will need several months of ongoing treatment and follow up blood tests/consultations. At the moment I am £2000 over my insurance limit and this is increasing astronomically.

He’s so young and hasn’t really had a chance to properly live yet. I’ve done everything I can to ensure he’s received the necessary treatment as quickly as possible but I won’t be able to keep this up financially. I wish I could just pay for all of this without issue but unfortunately I am scrambling to try make this work.

I humbly ask if anyone could help me support the medical care of Rufus during this difficult time. I’m terrified that I won’t be able to afford to keep him alive and he deserves the chance at a life. Anything at all would help and would mean the world to us. I’m doing this all alone, just me, Rufus and his feline brother and sister. Thank you in advance to anyone who can contribute. Hopefully Rufus can come home soon. Xx

***update. Rufus had his meningitis confirmed and has started steroid treatment straight away. After 4 days in the hospital he came home and it was a rough week while the drugs started to take affect. He’s responded well to the drugs and is back to being a bubbly happy puppy in remission. He won’t have an immune system while the steroids are suppressing it so we have several months where we have to be super careful as we slowly lower the dosage. Fingers crossed we can successfully get him out of this dangerous period and back to full health without further incident. I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has donated to help me pay for Rufus’s vets bills. We have a £800-900 outstanding bill left which is still a lot of money, but its a lot less scary than what I was facing before all your help. I’m so grateful and humbled by all the support a million thank yous wouldn’t be enough. I want to wish you all such a heartfelt thank you From a very grateful pet mum and a very blessed puppy**