Argo had been at the Merced County shelter since February 2023 when the shelter became overcrowded, putting him at risk of euthanasia. When shelters are overcrowded, they tend to euthanize the dogs with health/behavioral issues first and Argo was one of the dogs in this shelter that was suffering from kennel cough. His health condition and length of stay, and the fact that we had an open foster, were the reasons that we wanted to rescue Argo from that shelter and give him the treatment that he needed.
However, during his first night with our foster family, his kennel cough worsened. Since it was a Sunday, most vets (including our vet partner) were not open and the regular vets that were opened were already fully booked. With his severe coughing and wheezing, we could not wait for Monday and had no choice but to take him to an emergency pet hospital even though we knew that emergency vets usually do not offer any discount for rescue organizations. His health came first.
After taking an X-Ray for his chest, the emergency vet diagnosed him with severe pneumonia and recommended that he was hospitalized at least for 1 night. This was what we did. During his hospital stay, he was given fluids and an oxygen tank to breathe from. He was well enough to be discharged after 24 hours with 2 weeks’ worth of antibiotics to take. He is now recovering very well in his foster mom’s care. However, we are left with $4600 to pay. The original cost of the 1-night hospital stay was actually over $6,000, but the emergency vet was so kind to give us a discount.
Additionally, we will still need to neuter him, and that will be a couple more hundred dollars.
We’re looking for medical grants to help us cover his emergency hospitalization bills, but applying for medical grants is never a guarantee that we will get the grants as there are so many rescues needing help. Can you spare some change to help us with some of his medical bills?