Earlier I was moved to read @westvillagedyke’s tweet, “The love & empathy that you’re expressing for your pup has moved me to donate to the ASPCA.” That is awesome and humbling. Those who feel similarly are certainly encouraged to follow suit.
But then, she also asked if I could please “set up a PayPal acct on your site so that we may make donations to offset vet bill, sweets.” I suck at editing my Tumblr template (it needs help, I know), but I do have a PayPal link on my (neglected to the point of atrophy) Wordpress site which is still functional, as was evidenced by @Jenn1ferJun1per’s kindness the other day. Clicking on on the donate button (below bolded text of HALP in right sidebar) will do the trick. Yes, the page indicates “Groceries and Rent” as the default donation purpose, but anything going there benefits Ernie. (To wit: I just paid about half our June rent instead of the whole thing, so we could get Ernie’s treatment started without getting evicted.)
So…. In the interests of complete disclosure (probably too complete, but I have no energetic puppy to chase around the house, so what else am I going to do?) I’ll lay out the financial situation here for anyone considering dropping a coin or two in the above-linked bucket. (In lieu of which donations to ASPCA or and/or your own local animal care-related charitable organization in Ernie’s honor - see further below - would be warmly appreciated.)
Full disclosure, then:
As indicated in my “free hot chocolate from the vet’s lobby” tweet, total costs (to include our other dog’s treatment for heartworm, see below) could be in the $2500 range - but there are some factors which could reduce that total significantly (including, most hopefully, that Ernie could improve quickly and might thus have less than the 2½ weeks hospitalization presented as a second-to-worst-case scenario). (I was made painfully aware of what that “worst” scenario could be today. Godspeed, Ashes.)
So far, we’ve paid a little over $400 to the vet; his daily treatment costs, beginning from 5/29 were estimated at another $60/day, plus any additional lab fees (like the blood test they ran after he appeared to have a seizure* today). Sad to say, even with my husband finally having a job (he had been laid off for nearly a year before landing his present temporary position in April), $60/day is still more than half our net combined income per day.
Then there is the fact that our other dog, Lynyrd (YES HE HAS A TWITTER ACCOUNT, SHUT UP) has heartworm, treatment for which we were about to start when we learned Ernie had Parvo. Lynyrd’s heartworms were diagnosed a month ago, but the vet said his treatment could wait for a bit while we got the money for that together - between $500 and $600 - and worked out the logistics; he’ll need complete rest at home once treatment starts, and we’d just gotten a very active puppy (again, Ernie was a rescue; we damn sure didn’t plan these events this way).
There is a modest amount of silver lining here. First, the fact that the puppy is out of commission for a bit means that Lynyrd’s need for rest at home will be much easier to accomodate. So we can start Lynyrd’s treatment soon (this week, hopefully). Second, the vet is willing to work with us on the bill. In the past, we’ve had to pay fees in full at the time of service. But we’ve been going to them for years, and in this circumstance, they’re effectively letting us run a tab. In addition, I have offered to do any work they need done at the facility that doesn’t require licensure (I’ll scrub toilets, clean poop out of kennels, whatever) if they’ll consider such services as part of our payment. Ernie’s doctor will plead our case with the owner in the next day or two. So it’s possible (I can’t say likely, though I’m hopeful) some part of our costs could be paid through barter.
So that’s the situation. I feel enormous regret that we weren’t better prepared for this. When I first laid eyes on Ernie, he was running in the street behind this guy who was riding his bicycle to the gas station (hilariously enough, directly across the street from our vet) to get beer. I pulled over (I was going there anyway to fill the tank) and exclaimed, What a beautiful puppy! Immediately, and with a look of desperation, the guy said You want him?
I was dumbstruck then, because I knew two things:
- I was not particularly ready to take on a second dog, but this dude was was even less so. If you know the stretch of Lakeside Avenue** next to the East Coast gas station, you know it is no place on earth anyone should have a nine week old puppy running free. (We met a few times afterward; seeing where Ernie lived only confirmed my understanding that he needed a more stable home - even if it couldn’t yet be a perfect home.)
- I was instantly, utterly, inexorably in love with this puppy, knew he would be a great companion for Lynyrd, and that I was willing to do whatever was needed to make this work.
Still, I clearly wasn’t prepared. (Many thanks to the awesome Ms. November, by the way, for passing on info about veterinary insurance programs, which I wish like all hell I’d had in place before getting knocked over by two back-to-back veterinary health crises.)
My only explanation is this: In the immediate weeks after my husband finally scored a job, it was as if we’d gone from living on an actively sinking ship to one that was only partly submerged, and with each paycheck, all we could hope to do was run around frantically patching up holes.
We’re still, of course, patching up those holes, and this crisis has been quite a setback. We’ll weather it, of course - somehow, we always do - but it’s going to be quite a process. In this economy (that’s a meme, right? Sentences beginning with in this economy?), we know we’re not alone in our struggle. Some of you have greater crises to attend to, and some of you are effectively treading water - doing okay for now, but in a paycheck-to-paycheck state of fragility and precariousness.
But for those with enough wiggle room that you can afford to make a donation in Ernie’s honor, and who feel moved to do so, here are some options:
- Tax deductible donations to ASPCA, your local no-kill animal shelter, or other animal-care focused charitable organization. No, these wouldn’t directly address our situation, but I’m pretty sure Ernie, Lynyrd, and for that matter our cats Allie and Callie would approve. (Also: putting in volunteer hours at such organizations is completely awesome.)
- Sadly not tax deductible Paypal donations toward Ernie’s care (as delineated above) can be made via the donate button here or to my email address: vmarinelli AT gmail DOT com.
- I’ll check with the vet tomorrow (and update this post accordingly), but they might be able to accept payments from random awesome internet people by phone and apply them to Ernie’s account.
So that’s the situation. I can’t say enough how moved I have been by the outpouring of support over the last few days. (I’m still catching up on replies and correspondence - so if I haven’t gotten to you, please accept my apologies - I’ll get there.) However that manifests now or in the coming weeks, and whatever the outcome of Ernie’s illness, I will continue to be humbled and grateful for that part of this experience.
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* The doc thinks it probably wasn’t a seizure as such, but tremors from low blood sugar, following which glucose was added to his IV.
** Actually, there’s no good place on Lakeside Avenue for dogs - much less puppies - to safely run free. We live on this street - less than a mile from where I found Ernie - and it’s a thoroughfare; in our 11 years here, I cannot count how many dogs I have seen killed in traffic (I have also rescued a few, like Dixie, whom I was thankfully able to return to her family).
