Riot's Medical Expenses

Our 22.5 month old Shetland Sheepdog, Riot, is in urgent need of a life saving surgery.

Riot is an amazingly sweet, smart, funny dog. He is an otherwise young, healthy dog who is only just getting started in life as well as his Agility, Flyball, FastCat and Barn Hunt career. He has earned 9 titles this year alone. When Riot is not out having a blast in Agility class every week or chasing the 'bunnies' at FastCat, you can most often find him in the lap of one of his humans or dropping a toy at their feet, insisting they play with him!

Last week, Riot was feeling under the weather and what was initially diagnosed and treated as a 'tummy virus' progressed to difficulty breathing by Friday, 10/13. He was rushed to the the University of Minnesota Emergency Vet where he was diagnosed with Idiopathic Chylothorax, where a fatty fluid is leaking into his chest cavity and preventing his lungs from fully expanding.

Riot spent the night in the ICU and had this fluid removed, he was then stable enough to come home Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, he declined Sunday evening and had to be readmitted to the ICU, where he remains today, to have his chest drained again and ultimately have a chest tube placed to facilitate regular draining. Riot now urgently needs a complex surgery called a Thoracic Duct Ligation to stop the flow of this fluid into his chest cavity. Dogs with this surgery have an 80-100% success rate at returning to a completely normal life. His surgeon feels that because of his age he is an excellent candidate for this surgery, and even expects that he could return to a completely normal life, including a return to dog sports.

The complexity of this surgery and the level of hospitalization required is costly. At this time they have given us an estimate of $14,000-15,000 for all of his diagnostics, treatments, CT scan, surgery and hospitalization.

As no pet owner plans for this kind of expense in such a very young dog, we are hoping to fundraise some of these costs to help buffer the financial strain and allow us to focus on getting Riot healthy and back home with us.

Any amount collected above our goal will be set aside for future follow ups as part of Riot's continued care plan.

Riot is so loved and has so much life ahead of him still and, he is a fighter!

Thank you for considering donating to Riot's care. Please continue to keep him in your thoughts!