URGENT: Help Reese (Sheen) walk again!

Hi,

We are devastated by the freak accident of our beloved dog Reese (Sheen) falling off of the bed. Due to her fall, she has slipped a disk in her back causing her to be unable to stand or walk with her back legs. She is only able to drag her legs behind her due to the pinching of her nerves/spinal cord. To add to her partial paralysis, she is unable to urinate or defecate on her own so we have to perform massages on her to force both out three times daily moving forward until we can get her in for surgery. She has seen a vet and has been prescribed a pain medication that will allow her to sleep most of the day to avoid any further injury while we figure out how to afford this surgery. The cheapest quote has been from the University of Guelph Animal Hospital. They have said it will cost between $8,000 and $10,000 for imaging, surgery, meds. This number does not include the aftercare, physio, or medication after the surgery. With this type of surgery, not all Vets can perform it. After coming home from the vet who examined her, we called vets around the GTA and even the Niagara region to get other opinions or references. They all said the same thing......that there is only 2 places that specialists/surgeons will take this procedure on, hence why the costs are so extreme. The other animal hospital that performs this surgery quoted us between $10,000 and $12,000. Even though these costs seem crazy, it's our reality.

A little history about Reese (Sheen). She is a retired show dog and grand champion. Her show name was Ms. Silken Sheen, but called Sheen for short. She is so loving and sweet. She has a cheeky little personality that makes her that much more lovable. If she wants up on the couch, she will tug at the blanket or your pants. She is a big suckie and loves to cuddle. She has made best friends with our other weenie dog, Maltabella. When Sheen retired from showing, she had a few litters then rehomed to us. She was the perfect Christmas present for us celebrating our first Christmas together as a couple. We got her a few days after Christmas and she melted our hearts the day we looked into those sweet innocent eyes. We decided to rename her Reese due to her markings/colouring. She loves to play with toys and squeekies. We've put one of her favourite toys in her beddie with her while she is sleeping/resting on these meds. It's so sad to see her look at her toy and not even want to play with it. It's totally not like her and it crushes our hearts. She deserves to be that happy, loving, playful dog again like all dogs should.

We hate to even make one of these but we're totally shocked that the surgery costs so much, but it has to be done. As anyone can relate, a pet is like your child. When you truly love animals and pets, something like this is absolutely heartbreaking. We never thought this could happen to us and we were not prepared for something of this magnitude.

Again, we hate to even make one of these but due to the enormous cost of her back surgery, we're stuck and need to act quickly to prevent any more damage which could result in a bigger bill. Please do not feel obligated to donate, but if you can, it would be a huge help. We're not expecting our friends, co workers and families to foot the bill, that's not our intention at all. Every little bit helps enormously though. Please share our story. Again, thank you to everyone who helps or shares our story, we will update this page regularly during Reese's long road to recovery.