Team NoirDog: Surgery for Butch
Donation protected
My Boston Terrier Butch has been my fearless sidekick, confidant and best friend for 13 years. He's travelled all over the country with me and attended several crime writing events, earning him the nickname NoirDog.
He's had a lot of ups and downs, eye problems, growths, and a scary brush with death due to a mysterious auto-immune reaction that caused swelling in his brain. But he's always been a fighter and never let any of that stop him from attacking basketballs bigger than his body, keeping the neighborhood squirrels in line and making me laugh every single day.
When Butch got a foxtail stuck in his gum, it didn't seem like that big a deal. The vet pulled it out and that was that. But a week later, he was still acting painful, drooling a lot and unwilling to let me check inside his mouth. I took him in for a recheck, but he wouldn't let the vet look in his mouth either, so she told me to bring him back the next morning so she could sedate him and check it out.
On the way home, he started panting and gasping and quickly went into respiratory failure. I rushed him to the emergancy vet, where they had to intubate him to save his life.
Turned out he had developed an abscess at the site where the foxtail had been removed, but the real underlying problem was Brachycephalic Airway Syndrome. It had never been a serious issue until he started to get older, but in the past month it's become so constant and severe that I now have to sedate him in the car to prevent him from having another emergancy episode on the way to the vet.
He has also developed a pronounced head tilt. We are hoping it is an ear problem and not a neurological issue, but that will need to be explored further while he is under anesthesia tomorrow. He was supposed to come home with me tonight, but was still having trouble breathing and the vet felt he needed to be monitored overnight in a hospital setting.
I have been at the vet so often lately between Butch and my cat Reggie that I almost feel like I should just bring a sleeping bag and move in. They have been very kind and generous, working with me on the bills and going above and beyond to help my smush-faced black and white buddies.
But this last round of diagnostics, specialists, and surgery has put the total this year above 10 thousand dollars. The bill today was $4,739 and that was just a deposit.
So I'm reaching out to friends, fans, and anyone else out there who loves Bostons and asking for help getting Butch the surgery he needs to breathe normally and enjoy the remaining time that we will have together.
Thanks,
Christa Faust
He's had a lot of ups and downs, eye problems, growths, and a scary brush with death due to a mysterious auto-immune reaction that caused swelling in his brain. But he's always been a fighter and never let any of that stop him from attacking basketballs bigger than his body, keeping the neighborhood squirrels in line and making me laugh every single day.
When Butch got a foxtail stuck in his gum, it didn't seem like that big a deal. The vet pulled it out and that was that. But a week later, he was still acting painful, drooling a lot and unwilling to let me check inside his mouth. I took him in for a recheck, but he wouldn't let the vet look in his mouth either, so she told me to bring him back the next morning so she could sedate him and check it out.
On the way home, he started panting and gasping and quickly went into respiratory failure. I rushed him to the emergancy vet, where they had to intubate him to save his life.
Turned out he had developed an abscess at the site where the foxtail had been removed, but the real underlying problem was Brachycephalic Airway Syndrome. It had never been a serious issue until he started to get older, but in the past month it's become so constant and severe that I now have to sedate him in the car to prevent him from having another emergancy episode on the way to the vet.
He has also developed a pronounced head tilt. We are hoping it is an ear problem and not a neurological issue, but that will need to be explored further while he is under anesthesia tomorrow. He was supposed to come home with me tonight, but was still having trouble breathing and the vet felt he needed to be monitored overnight in a hospital setting.
I have been at the vet so often lately between Butch and my cat Reggie that I almost feel like I should just bring a sleeping bag and move in. They have been very kind and generous, working with me on the bills and going above and beyond to help my smush-faced black and white buddies.
But this last round of diagnostics, specialists, and surgery has put the total this year above 10 thousand dollars. The bill today was $4,739 and that was just a deposit.
So I'm reaching out to friends, fans, and anyone else out there who loves Bostons and asking for help getting Butch the surgery he needs to breathe normally and enjoy the remaining time that we will have together.
Thanks,
Christa Faust
Organizer
Butch Faust
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA