First of all, thank you so much for wanting to learn a little more about Max. He is a perfect boy and deserves all the love in the world. I adopted him from Austin Animal Center in February of 2021 and he has been the brightest light in my life ever since. ❤️ He's a 6 year old, 95lb Pittie-Brindle Tiger-boy mix with the handsomest tiny ears and big ol' block head! All in all he is very healthy. He's smart and intuitive. He can read your emotions and reacts by comforting anyone who is upset or anxious just like a trained service dog... But he's not trained, just a natural! Lol.
On Wednesday October 26th 2022 at approximately 5pm Max had a freak addicent.
He was barking at the mailman (as you do before Momma comes and tells you to stop... Gotta protect!) and he got a little overzealous and knocked over a ceramic bowl near the window. It just so happened that when he went to get back down he landed in such a way that a piece of the broken bowl went straight into his arm and hit an artery and 2 large veins.
I had no idea what had just happened but nonetheless I was in the room within seconds. Max had stopped barking (without my saying much, which was odd) and he was already sitting on my bed, looking at me. Now I have dark colored sheets, so when I saw a puddle of liquid, I assumed he had just pee'd which would have been very strange for him. But when I looked closer I realized that the puddle was blood!
Panic doesn't even begin to describe how I felt in that moment. I didn't know where the blood was coming from and when I lifted up his right front leg, the blood came pouring out like a steady stream. I quickly grabbed a towel and tied it tightly around his leg and went looking for help. Luckily my roommate was at home and we got Max into the backseat. I sat with him and held as much pressure as I could muster on his wound and prayed for the next 13 minutes which was exactly how long it took to drive to the nearest emergency vet. He was calm for the most part, only starting to shake about halfway through the car ride, I think due to shock.
They were able to admit him right away but surgery would not be completed until almost 10pm that night. He had lost a lot of blood. His red blood cell count was down a bit and protein count was good but not great. However, with life saving surgery and a solid treatment plan, he was pretty much out of the woods.
I was able to borrow funds from friends and family and use rent money and savings to be able to cover the initial $1,000 bill so that they could start his life-saving treatment. Because the blood loss was fairly extensive, the emergency staff recommended IV fluids and an extended stay to watch his blood count and protein levels which cost an additional $700.
Max is at home now and is doing well. He is not a fan of the cone of shame, but he is actually doing relatively well with his new cast. He will need to have a cast for the next 2 weeks in order to prevent his stitches from opening up. He will also need 3 follow-up appointments in order to change out his cast and look at how he is healing. Each follow-up visit will cost about $200. That leaves me with a grand total of $2,300 in additional expenses and as someone that lives pretty much paycheck to paycheck, it's going to be really really hard on me both emotionally and financially. I am very much willing to go without for Max. Even without any donations I will figure out a way to make this work.
If you love my Maxie boy and feel so inclined however, any donation amount would be absolutely amazing and I will be so incredibly thankful.
Thank you so much for taking the time to hear his story and thank you for caring! ❤️
Love,
Max's Mom
