The Life of Max: Recovery Fund
Donation protected
This emergency fundraiser is to help with Max’s treatment and outrageously steep vet / urgent care bills, so that we can give this life-loving and unconditional love-giving French Bulldog the chance to continue to live the rest of his life in good quality and not be “put to sleep” prematurely. Also, with this campaign I would like to raise awareness and offer some help to other pet owners in my shoes, as I’ve learned quite a bit from what we’ve gone through and have found great hope in solutions I’d like to share that for reasons unknown seem to be hidden and not recommended by traditional vets, who instead sometimes seem to thrive in the desperation of those with a big heart for their pets (who may not always have deep pockets but will empty them anyway).
As some of you know, Max began to suffer a series of “quite scary cluster seizures” and eventually a non-stoppign “status seizure” that landed him at the emergency animal hospital for a few days without much hope or specific treatment other than heavy medication and expensive hospitalization for a condition that traditional vet medicine does not approach nor treat effectively for some reason, so I’ve come to find out in what’s been quite a devastating road. The vets at AMC, the NYC animal hospital where Max was admitted in emergency, were able to stop the ongoing lethal convulsion that brought him there and save his life. However, from there on he was kept hospitalized with no certain road to recovery or hope ahead, just heavy meds (and bills), and eventually the recommendation that if he didn’t get better after a few days in the hospital (meaning after $6K or so), they recommended putting him down. I’m no vet, but I know my dog, and I could see life and will in his eyes and was not about to give up without other opinions. Luckily though a friend’s recommendation on social media (love it when social media works wonders), I found an amazing veterinary center in Salem, NY (2 hours north of NYC) that people from all over the country come to for hopeless cases like this, where they’ve saved thousands of dogs’ lives with a combination of holistic, traditional, and nutritional medicine. After a phone consultation with one of the specialists, I was made aware of the many causes of such seizure conditions, the detox treatments that are usually effective to treat this, and the inspiring fact that Max has a lot more hope than traditional vets ever gave him, per a suggested 3 day detox “retreatment” at their facilities that is specific for these cases. The cost is about $2K, which while not cheap, is actually just fraction of the traditional treatment he’s been receiving since this started. Why didn’t I know of this before?! Well, in moments of desperation to save a dog’s life, one tries anything that is recommended by their vet at hand, and unfortunately this meant days of hospitalization and incurring heavy bills until I found this. I certainly had already contemplated the possibility of letting Max go, but when I looked at his eyes and saw how he was trying, I though he really deserved a chance and a second opinion, and so we are going to try this “Retreatment” detox that sounds quite promising. Of course in situations like this one does not immediately think of the finances involved, and in NYC, this has certainly been quite a breaking blow, especially coming at a time when my business and personal finances had just taken a hit and was on a budget till more work came onboard! But such is the irony of life and Murphy’s Law!
And thus is nature of this fundraiser, for which, as much as I do not like to do things like this, I find that for the love of dog, I will ask and put it out there for those that would like to “throw Max a bone”! Those funds will help realize Max’s upcoming 3 day treatment ($2K) at Smith-Ridge Veterinary Clinic in Salem, NY, some of the follow up and maintenance costs thereafter, as well as help pay for some of the already incurred $5K in hospital care from this scary episode. If we raise more funds than we need, I am committed to placing those in the hands of other pet owners in need, weather its via a charity or directly, which is something I want to do anyway as I don’t wish anyone to be in such situation!
You can also help by sharing Max’s instagram for this with which we hope to raise more awareness: The Life of Max - Instagram
Thank you! Updates to come.
As some of you know, Max began to suffer a series of “quite scary cluster seizures” and eventually a non-stoppign “status seizure” that landed him at the emergency animal hospital for a few days without much hope or specific treatment other than heavy medication and expensive hospitalization for a condition that traditional vet medicine does not approach nor treat effectively for some reason, so I’ve come to find out in what’s been quite a devastating road. The vets at AMC, the NYC animal hospital where Max was admitted in emergency, were able to stop the ongoing lethal convulsion that brought him there and save his life. However, from there on he was kept hospitalized with no certain road to recovery or hope ahead, just heavy meds (and bills), and eventually the recommendation that if he didn’t get better after a few days in the hospital (meaning after $6K or so), they recommended putting him down. I’m no vet, but I know my dog, and I could see life and will in his eyes and was not about to give up without other opinions. Luckily though a friend’s recommendation on social media (love it when social media works wonders), I found an amazing veterinary center in Salem, NY (2 hours north of NYC) that people from all over the country come to for hopeless cases like this, where they’ve saved thousands of dogs’ lives with a combination of holistic, traditional, and nutritional medicine. After a phone consultation with one of the specialists, I was made aware of the many causes of such seizure conditions, the detox treatments that are usually effective to treat this, and the inspiring fact that Max has a lot more hope than traditional vets ever gave him, per a suggested 3 day detox “retreatment” at their facilities that is specific for these cases. The cost is about $2K, which while not cheap, is actually just fraction of the traditional treatment he’s been receiving since this started. Why didn’t I know of this before?! Well, in moments of desperation to save a dog’s life, one tries anything that is recommended by their vet at hand, and unfortunately this meant days of hospitalization and incurring heavy bills until I found this. I certainly had already contemplated the possibility of letting Max go, but when I looked at his eyes and saw how he was trying, I though he really deserved a chance and a second opinion, and so we are going to try this “Retreatment” detox that sounds quite promising. Of course in situations like this one does not immediately think of the finances involved, and in NYC, this has certainly been quite a breaking blow, especially coming at a time when my business and personal finances had just taken a hit and was on a budget till more work came onboard! But such is the irony of life and Murphy’s Law!
And thus is nature of this fundraiser, for which, as much as I do not like to do things like this, I find that for the love of dog, I will ask and put it out there for those that would like to “throw Max a bone”! Those funds will help realize Max’s upcoming 3 day treatment ($2K) at Smith-Ridge Veterinary Clinic in Salem, NY, some of the follow up and maintenance costs thereafter, as well as help pay for some of the already incurred $5K in hospital care from this scary episode. If we raise more funds than we need, I am committed to placing those in the hands of other pet owners in need, weather its via a charity or directly, which is something I want to do anyway as I don’t wish anyone to be in such situation!
You can also help by sharing Max’s instagram for this with which we hope to raise more awareness: The Life of Max - Instagram
Thank you! Updates to come.
Organizer
Raul G
Organizer
New York, NY