Marley - HeartsRGolden Fund

Just after Christmas GRRA received an urgent plea from a shelter regarding a “senior golden mix” who needed rescue immediately or he was facing euthanasia.  In short, he was a “stray” found with another dog.  The owner came and got the younger dog and left Marley there with no intention to come back for him.  Immediately, we sprang into action and got him lined up to come in.  Upon intake exam we determined he was not 10yrs like the shelter said, but more like 5-7yrs, heartworm positive, riddled with intestinal parasites AND had something wonky going on with his elbow.  When he walks, his elbow ends up turning out to the side (away from his body) and is clearly painful and he sometimes yelps.  We have consulted with an orthopedic surgeon on Marely’s elbow and unfortunately it is not good news.  There is not much we can do aside from symptom management until he has completed his heartworm injections.  However, the options we have aren’t ideal either.  Option 1, Marley needs a CT or MRI to further diagnose his elbow issue and formulate a surgical plan.  Option 2, we do a sort of exploratory surgery and hope they can locate the issue and fix it while in surgery.  Option 3, we take the more radical route and amputate his leg (not ideal as this will put all of his weight on his other front leg and speed up the likely development of arthritis).  Option 4, we have to consider his quality of life.

As you can imagine, option 4 is not something we want to even consider for this guy.  GRRA needs to raise money to prepare for the diagnostics and likely surgical route Marley will have to take once he’s finished his heartworm treatment.  Surgery is between $3000-$5000, with diagnostics beginning between $1500-$5000 (higher end if the MRI is required).  To date, GRRA has already paid close to $3000 for his initial intake vetting, medications needed to keep him comfortable, neutering, and first round of heartworm injections. 

Marley needs your help!  No donation is too small, every penny counts!