Surgery for Laika

Laika is my very favorite living being on this planet. She's a heckin' good girl who lost her brother two short months ago to an inoperable tumor on his brain stem that was causing him to produce too much calcium and his kidneys to fail. Now, Laika has a very rapidly growing cancer that has caused a growth right at the top of her tail that has (in the course of 3-4 days) grown to a size that it outgrew the blood supply and will either rupture (which will lead to a whole different host of issues), or she needs to have it / her tail removed as soon as possible.


As you may imagine, tail amputation is no easy task. There's a lot of very important functions of life that happen right in the same area the surgery would be happening; it's very intense and very easy to go wrong. Therefore, Laika needs to see a specialist for her surgery if we want the highest possible success of (a) her surviving the surgery and (b) the surgery successfully stopping the cancer.

The specialist quoted me a minimum of $4,150 for this surgery--but guessed it would be closer to the $5,000 - $7,000 range--and it needs to be paid 100% in full before they will even do the surgery. All of this on top of the ~$400 in office visits / consultations / medications prior to the surgery itself. The specialists do not do any form of payment plans whatsoever, nor offer / accept any of the care credit / lines of credit that some vets do. And, as a teacher, that sort of money is not cash I have on hand, especially at the end of a summer where I have already had one pet emergency, along with no additional opportunities to earn money.

I know that times are hard for everyone right now, and normally I would just try to figure this sort of thing out on my own. But I think it's good to step back and recognize when we need help. Right now, Laika and I need your help.

Laika is my best friend in the entire world and any little bit that anyone is able to contribute will help her more than you know.