Mason's Emergency Care

Last year, Razor's Edge Rescue took in an epileptic German Shepherd named Mason, who was about to be euthanized. We got the call a few days before Christmas from a friend working at an animal hospital. Mason's owner was on chemo and no longer able to care for him. His owner had two kids in their early teens. These kids had been watching their mother's health deteriorate and were now about to witness the euthanasia of their family dog right before the holidays. Obviously, we couldn't say no. Mason has been with us since that point. We take him to his neurology appointments, supply all of his meds, and special order his food. 

Toward the end of last week, Mason had been throwing up and was visibly uncomfortable. He refused to eat and began refusing to drink not long after, which meant we couldn't keep his epilepsy meds in his system. On Thursday, we took him to the Tidewater Veterinary Hospital and found out he had an obstruction. He had emergency surgery the following day. His obstruction surgery cost $2,285.39.

Mason's obstruction was successfully removed, but he had 3 seizures and aspirated some vomit while at the hospital. He had 3 more seizures on the way home. Mason had another seizure after arriving home. He was struggling to breathe and became unresponsive after this last seizure. I brought him to an emergency hospital where he was stabilized. At that point, he required hospitalization and supplemental oxygen. After he was stabilized, it was determined that Mason was regurgitating stomach acid and aspirating it into his lungs, causing pneumonia. His body was completely exhausted from the obstruction, surgery, and seizures, and now he was facing aspiration pneumonia and lung damage. Mason did well through the first night of hospitalization, but crashed the second day. He was placed on both breathing and feeding tubes until he stabilized again. 

 

The CARE team called us on Saturday and advised us that we should come say our goodbyes, as he was unlikely to pull through. After we arrived, and as a hail Mary, Mason's vet suggested we remove his breathing tube to see if he could maintain his oxygen level without intubation. Chest x-rays were performed prior to this to determine the extent to which his lungs were damaged by the aspirated acid. Once it was clear that the state of Mason's lungs wouldn't preclude a high quality of life, we went ahead with the extubation. By some miracle, he was able to breathe on his own. Mason had one seizure after extubation, but his medications were adjusted, and he has been seizure free since that point. I was able to pick him up from CARE on Sunday night. While he's not completely out of the woods, his health is improving every day.

By the end of the ordeal, the cost of his emergency treatment had more than doubled. The awesome staff of CARE in Williamsburg pulled $6.5k from charity sources (which left the bill from the emergency hospital at $3k), and some of our incredible friends chipped in $2,330 for Mason's initial emergency visit ($800) and surgery ($2,285.39). That leaves us in the hole for about $4k. As Razor's Edge Rescue has no funding currently, we are paying for all rescue animal food and vet costs out-of-pocket. I have emptied my personal account and borrowed the remainder from family members to cover these costs. If anyone would like to contribute to the balance for Mason's treatment, we would be EXTREMELY grateful. 

Thank you for taking the time to read his story.