Support Verona's Emergency Vet Care

Hello friends, family and fellow dog parents.

My partner, Christina, has experienced what all dog parents hope never happens. Her elder pup, Verona, had to be rushed to the emergency veterinary hospital Friday evening (Feb. 28th, 2025).

Verona was rushed into emergency surgery and all we knew at the time was that she had blood in her abdomen and that there was a possible tumor. We waited in the parking lot until we got the call from the doctor. Around 10:30pm we were told Verona was out of surgery and stable. She had a tumor 1.5 times the size of a softball embedded inside her small intestine. They removed the mass and then about 6 inches of extra intestine from the surrounding area. Apparently the tumor burst that is where the fluid was coming from. The doctor couldn’t find anything on her spleen or liver but also didn’t suck all the blood out to get a 100% clean look because she wanted to avoid the need for a blood transfusion. The doctor said the type of tumor she had didn’t usually burst so it was unique that hers did. Luckily that behavior got us to bring her in & that the tumor did not obstruct/pinch her small intestine. They told us she might get to come home in about 48hours but she’s not in the clear yet. Healing is very critical and difficult due to it being in the intestines, if there would be any kind of additional rupture there could be bacterial complications like sepsis.

The plan was to send the tumor out for biopsy to see if it was malignant or benign, which takes about a week to come back. We headed home with the words “no news is good news” through the night.

Saturday (Mar. 1st, 2025) afternoon we headed over to the vet. We were able to see Verona and spend time with her. We helped her eat a little bit of food and took her outside to potty. The doctor said she was improving. Around 9pm Christina called to check in and they said Verona was taken outside to potty and getting sassy towards other dogs, which was good in our eyes cause that means she was acting like her usual self.

Christina got a call around 2:15am saying that Verona had a fever and there were signs of her abdomen swelling. We rushed over to the vet to sit in the parking lot while they rushed Verona back into surgery. We sat in the parking lot until 6 am and then went inside and spoke with the doctor after. The tissue holding the sutures where the intestines were sown back together had torn. This is what we were hoping would not happen. They repaired it but had found leakage at the repair site of stomach contents and bacteria. They put in a drainage tube for the abdominal liquid and had her on a regimen of full spectrum antibiotics and pain medicine. She made it through the night but still in critical condition. We were mentally preparing for anything.

On Sunday (Mar. 2nd, 2025) around 1:30pm we went over to see Verona and lay on the floor with her. We were able to help her eat and drink water. The doctor came in and talked to us. Everything was still very critical. We came back at 8pm to see her and this time she was willing to eat more of the food that we hand fed to her. Christina and I headed home with the word of, no news is good news.

Monday (today, Mar. 3rd, 2025) we got the call that Verona was doing wonderfully. The amount of fluid in the drainage bulb had consistently lowered throughout the night into the morning and after being tested, showed no signs of bacteria. After careful consideration the doctors said she can come home! We picked her up, were given a bag full of medication, prescription food, and directions.

I am creating this gofundme because the cost of two surgeries, three nights at the emergency vet and everything else has exceeded $10,000 thus far. While things are on the up-and-up we still are waiting for word as to whether the tumor comes back as malignant or benign.

Any donation or share is extremely appreciated!!!

Kindly,

Samuel