Support Frito's Fight Against Valley Fever

Hi friends and family!

I'm raising money to help cover Frito's recent hospital bills as well as his upcoming treatment. While I do have pet insurance, we quickly already hit our max benefit.

For those that don't know, I rushed Frito to the emergency hospital on May 7th after he had what looked like a seizure. After an examination, the veterinarian diagnosed him with vestibular disease and quickly transferred him to the neurology department to do further testing to find the cause of the vestibular episode. We started with an MRI and a spinal tap ($6k) which showed he had meningitis, fluid build-up in the brain and spinal cord, a small mass in the brain, and an extremely high white blood cell count. After we got the results, the vet said Frito's meningitis may either be infectious, auto-immune, or cancerous. From there we did an abdominal ultrasound ($1k) to look for evidence of cancer elsewhere but they didn't find any concerning abnormalities. They also submitted his blood for infectious testing ($1k). After a long and scary 36 hours, I was able to take Frito home as we waited for the blood results. Frito was put on steroids to help reduce the inflammation in his brain and neck and he showed great signs of improvement after only a few days. We did however have to go back to the ER after he experienced GI issues caused by the medications ($300). On May 20th we found out that Frito tested positive for a fungal disease call Coccidioidomycosis or Valley Fever. The good news is VF is treatable and can be cured in some dogs! The vet cautioned treatment will be long, at least a year of medications ($200/month), but they are optimistic as he's continued to show signs of improvement. Our treatment plan also includes frequent blood testing ($1k) as well as at least one more MRI and spinal tap ($6k).

Unfortunately for Frito and I, we are no strangers to vet bills. A month after I adopted him in 2020, he was diagnosed with severe pneumonia. This had us going to the vet every 3 weeks for x-rays and medication refills for 11 months until it cleared. He also has a bulging disc which we've been treating medically on and off for 2 years as well as performed multiple x-rays as the severity increased.

In my completely biased opinion, Frito is the sweetest dog to ever exist. He's sunshine in dog form. I'm pretty sure his life mission is to bring happiness and joy to anyone he meets. To know Frito is to be absolutely obsessed with him. And if you haven't had the pleasure of meeting him, I promise you you would. He's just a little guy with furry toes and a lot of love to give.

Despite being dealt a tough hand in life, Frito continues to try and beat the medical odds and fight. Frito was found on the streets in Tijuana so I'm not sure what his life was like prior to being rescued, but I'm committed to giving him the best and longest life that he undoubtedly deserves. He’s given me the absolute happiest 4 years of my life so it’s the least I can do. So, if you are willing and able, we would deeply appreciate any support you can offer to help financially make sure that happens.

With love, Elise + Frito