Medical wonders Archives - Free Animal Doctor

Success 2024: Chilli

Donate $5, so we can have more successes like Chilli!!

Chilli is one of the cases I am most proud of in 2024!

A stray, abandoned Pittie, Chilli was found in south Los Angeles in April of 2024. What dog has less of a chance? Is more forgotten, ignored? More disposable?

But when people heard this street dog had a heart condition, a birth defect, and that surgery was close to $10,000 to save her life, what happened?

One hundred and fifty-three people donated to get her that surgery!

 

Chilli's Story: A request for donations to help her

Or should we say procedure? Chilli had Pulmonic Stenosis, a birth defect in the heart where the valves are thick and stuck. It happens in people too, and the solution is to send a little balloon up there, and push them open: balloon valvuloplasty. Prognosis with this procedure is excellent, especially when caught young like with Chilli!

The problem, it’s a heart procedure. Those aren’t cheap. You need a heart specialist. You need special equipment. These can get up over $10,000 pretty quick, and Chilli is just another stray Pittie, no one even wanted her, just dumped to run around the streets.

But Chilli had something. She had a dedicated couple that had rescued her, Samantha Schoen and James Poole, and she had access to Free Animal Doctor. And that led to getting that heart procedure. How?

Samantha got the excellent rescue organization Ace of Hearts to help Chilli. They found the heart specialist and got a discount as well, but it was still $8000. That’s where Free Animal Doctor came in. We provide a donation platform where donors can help Chilli knowing that their donation, 100%, will go to her care.

  • We hold the donations and pay them only to the specialist when the procedure is done.
  • No fees. The entire donation goes to Chilli.

And let me tell you a little secret, something people may not want you know: When you give people the ability to help, when they know their donation really will be used as they intend, you get 153 people donating $8000 to a stray Pittie they’ve never even met. Chilli proves it.

 

Post surgery summary:

That’s why I am so proud of Chilli’s campaign. Because I am proud of people, people like you, people who help an animal in need when given the opportunity. People who donated, who shared her story, and of course Samantha and Ace of Hearts. Free Animal Doctor provides the platform and all of these people come together, and Chilli get’s her heart fixed!

Today Chilli is doing great. The procedure went well. She had her follow up, and everything is fine. She is as healthy as any dog that never had this heart defect, and should live a normal, happy life! Samantha is still fostering her. She has a number of applications in and some meet-and-greets are set up already for January. And if you would like to inquire about adopting, you can! Email to adoptchonkychilli@gmail.com

Adopt Chilli:

 

Donate $5, so we can have more successes like Chilli!!

Posted on by Free Animal Doctor. 0 comments

Butter is Better!

Butter's happy story is almost to it's fabulous conclusion!

It starts sad enough, with a little dog in a over-full animal shelter in the desert of Riverside County. She was found stray, came in with the break and some injuries. Probably attacked by a coyote or larger dog.

The shelter put her in a splint, but did not properly align the bones. Maybe they tried but could not, maybe they didn't try, but the result was the result. We got her out a week after she had been in the shelter, and to a vet right away. She came to us with no antibiotics, and no pain medications. There was a slight internal infection, and x-rays showed the bones were not aligned. Tests came back showing she also had worms, which she had not been treated for at the shelter.

From there we started searching for a surgeon. We consulted with a number of doctors, and they all agreed her break would required a skilled orthopedist, a doctor specializing in bone surgery.

Butter is young, probably a little over a year old, but a young ADULT. Her arm was not growing anymore, so we had a little bit of time. But still, surgery cannot wait forever. We were getting estimates of $8000-$10,000 so we decided to put Butter's story out to the world. If enough people wanted to save her leg, and were willing to donate to her, we would do that. Otherwise we would have to take the second best option, which is amputation.

So many good things!

Doctor Teresa Schumacher helped us search for a surgeon. She is also the creator a series of videos on keeping your dog out of the ER (She is an ER vet). You can check those videos out HERE.

Besides the price, just finding an available specialist is hard, especially in Summer when many doctors take a vacation (like everyone else!). Fortunately Dr Schumacher found a board-certified orthopedist who could fit us in, and at a discount. Our fundraiser goal went from $8000+ to $6100. Still expensive, but $2000 closer in an instant!

We created the best fundraiser webpage we could. We promoted it all over social media, including paid ads on Facebook. And donors came in! Nearly 100 donations for Butter, from people all over the USA. People who had never met this little dog, stepping up to save her leg!

We reached the goal, got Butter in our van, and drove her to Ventura for surgery. She had the procedure July 25th. There was one complication, the end of the bones had started to callous over. When this happens the bone is less likely to grow back together. The body is realizing that the break is not going to heal (this break would never heal "naturally") and is sealing off the broken edges of the bone. Good news though: Butter was with a board-certified orthopedist that knows how to deal with this occurrence. He did a graft of bone tissue, then pinned the large bone to the wrist. The small bone will hold in place as it is stabilized from the large bone, so no pin is necessary there.

What now

Dr Schumacher is fostering Butter while she recovers from the surgery. Dr Schumacher's own dog had TPLO (knee) surgery the same week, and is on the same recovery schedule, so the two are doing their limited activity rest together! Also, what better foster for a dog recovering from a complex surgery than a veterinarian!

Butter has about two weeks of very limited movement. Basically, can go out to use the bathroom, that's it. Then about two weeks more of restricted movement, to about 10 minutes a day. And in between there will be check ups. After about a month, she should be able to get out mostly as any other healthy dog, though we will be more specific about that as we see how the check ups go.

Butter is also available for adoption! She is a 7 pound little girl of about 1.5 years, probably a terrier and chihuahua mix. She's pretty calm for her breed, and very friendly!

So that is Butter's happy story so far! From an attacked little stray, to the shelter, to rescue and surgery to save her leg. Now in foster care with a veterinarian, working on healing her leg and soon to find a great forever home. It's the power of crowdfunding done right!

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