Support Rita Hayworth's Life-Saving Surgery

I'm Nichelle, and I am Rita Hayworth's human. Our family adopted Rita Hayworth from a local rescue, who brought her to Colorado from the streets of Houston, Texas. She was almost a year and a half old when she came to our home. Rita Hayworth came to us with the name "Chiquita," but that didn't adequately represent how pretty she is. Rita Hayworth didn't take long to become a loved and valued member of the family.

On Christmas Eve morning, Rita Hayworth listened to her Husky sense of adventure and went through an open window on the second story of our home and ended up on the roof. Our son, Nick, discovered her out there and, startled, yelled her name to come back inside. Equally startled, Rita Hayworth slipped and fell over fourteen feet to the concrete driveway below, dislocating both front ankles. After a trip to the emergency vet, estimates for a bilateral carpal arthrodesis surgery to repair Rita Hayworth's ankles totaled over $15,000.

Unfortunately, our family is not equipped to come up with this amount of money, so we need help from anyone who is willing. All of the money will go towards the surgery, medications, therapy, and post-operative aftercare. We have already depleted our savings for the emergency visit and an overnight stay that cost over $3,700. We are also in the process of trying to find another orthopedic veterinarian/hospital that can perform the surgery for less, without compromising Rita Hayworth's prognosis and outcomes. The scary part is, if we cannot get the surgery done, we will have no choice but to send her over the Rainbow Bridge, which would be devastating to our family, but even more so, incredibly unfair to Rita Hayworth, who is only five years old and has a whole lot of life to live.

Please consider donating $5, $10, even $50 or more—any amount will help! Also, please share this with your friends and families—every little bit will help us reach our goal and save Rita Hayworth's life.