All About the Dogs Rescue
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Chucky
Chucky is suffering from congestive heart failure and needs your help.
New Milford, CT • All About the Dogs Rescue
Chucky became an AATDR dog several months ago, and he's made so much progress! He is learning that people can be his friends, and he is increasingly willing and able to socialize in this big, wide world. Now we need to help him heal physically. Without lifesaving surgery to implant a pacemaker, Chucky is in real danger of sudden death. The medications prescribed by his cardiologist aren't helping nearly as much as hoped. He is still suffering from congestive heart failure. He has a "total block" which means that his heart doesn't pump blood effectively with every beat - it is erratic in its ability to do that. He has degenerative valve disease and an abdomen full of fluid from heart failure, even with the medications. His heart rate is only a maximum of 40 beats per minute. The only way it can be corrected is with a pacemaker. With the pacemaker, we're told the prognosis is excellent. It is expected to be curative, and will allow Chucky to live an active, normal life although he will always need periodic re-checks. Up until being found as a stray in Waterbury CT and spending over 6 months at Waterbury Animal Control, Chucky's history is unknown. Given his medical status and his initial distrust of humans, however, it seems safe to assume that his life had not been a happy one. At the pound, Chucky was hard to "read" - he was unpredictably unsure of some people - so much so that he was listed as "rescue only" - meaning he could leave the pound only if he was under the care of an approved rescue organization. When the pound became full he was scheduled for euthanasia, and we thankfully were able to take him into rescue and thus save his life. Now we need to save it a second time! He's gone through a board and train program. He's learning to trust - possibly for the first time in his life. He is relaxed and happy in his foster home. He is increasingly able to make new human friends. He enjoys the company of other dogs. Chucky is all set to be able to live a long and happy life... except that his heart condition is likely to kill him before he has a chance to experience that! Please join with us to fight for Chucky's life! We need to raise $10,000 - the surgery alone is estimated to cost a minimum of $5,103.50 and a maximum of $5,777.63. We have already spent almost $5,000 on appointments and diagnostics, between his primary vet and his cardiologist. He's had two electrocardiograms and two echocardiograms done. He's had bloodwork done several times. He was treated for two tick-related illnesses when he first came to us - and is being retreated because the positive results of his most recent tick tests were higher than would be the case normally for a dog who had previously been infected. We are currently tapped out. We cannot provide what Chucky needs without your help! Please join Chucky's team by donating as generously as you possibly can, today! He is scheduled for his pacemaker surgery on September 1. We must pay the bill date of service. Chucky needs your help right away!
Cocoa
Cocoa needed emergency hospitalization for kidney care, please help her.
New Milford, CT • All About the Dogs Rescue
Cocoa is the most adorable little senior man! He's a 12-year-old purebred Yorkie. Even though he suffers from a collapsing trachea and is on medications for that, he has an amazing amount of pep in his step. He came to All About the Dogs Rescue when his owners could no longer care for him. His dad had dementia and his mom had broken her hip and was facing a long period of rehabilitation. In the rescue, he lives with one of our wonderful foster families who have a little dog of their own. The two dogs have become besties! Last night, Cocoa's foster family called us. They'd been getting the car loaded to go camping. They'd left a couple of bags of food within Cocoa's reach when they were out at the car for just a few minutes. In that time, Cocoa grabbed the plastic bag that held a loaf of raisin bread, tore open the plastic, and helped himself to a snack. His foster family rushed him to Guardian Veterinary Specialists where they induced vomiting. Much to everyone's horror, that produced no fewer than 24 raisins! Raisins are extremely toxic for dogs even in small amounts. For a 12-lb dog, 24 raisins is a huge amount! Cocoa is hospitalized for a minimum of 48 hours. He is on IV fluids and blood is being drawn periodically to monitor his kidney values. This morning, that showed the values were slightly elevated. They will be checked again this evening and we are praying they don't go higher! Ingesting that number of raisins could be fatal and we are so worried about our boy! We are a small rescue. We work hard to help as much as we possibly can. We're all volunteers. None of us draws a salary for what we do. We are 100% dependent upon donations to cover the cost of care for our dogs. We aren't like the large regional or national organizations. We don't have corporate sponsorships. We depend on caring individuals to join with us to help the dogs needing our help the most. When emergency such as this strikes, we must turn to you - animal lovers and advocates everywhere. In today's animal welfare environment, rescues such as ours are stretched thin and struggling. We have no cushion. We are in desperate need of your help so that we can provide Cocoa with the care he needs! The estimate from Guardian Veterinary Specialists is low estimate $1,698.37 and high estimate $2, 538.40. That is an almost impossible lift for a little rescue such as ours. But we have no choice! Cocoa needs the treatment that only an ER hospital can provide. Please help Cocoa! Your donation, however large or small, will make a huge difference in our ability to give him the best chance to live out his life without what could easily be life-threatening kidney damage. 5/26/26 Update: Cocoa Is Getting Better The good news is that Cocoa was stable enough to leave the emergency vet on Sunday night. His kidney values became only slightly elevated and it would seem that he brought up the majority of the raisins he ate before they were able to exert full toxicity and do real damage to his kidneys. We will be following up this week with his primary veterinarian and repeating bloodwork, and we're praying that he remains stable and there are no complications. At his foster home, Cocoa is sleeping a bit more than he normally does. His appetite is good and his foster mom says he seems to be doing well. He's a senior at 12 years old, and has a collapsing trachea for which he's on medication. We are doing everything in our power to give him as long a time to enjoy the good life as possible. And we need you to help us so that we can provide him with the care he needs. Our rescue bank account is running on fumes. Cocoa's visit to, and stay at, the ER vet cost $2443.71. That is a huge expense for our little rescue! This fundraiser has raised only $800 so far. If you're able to donate \\\\\\\\\\\_anything\\\\\\\\\\\_ it will help! Small donations absolutely add up. We must get this bill paid quickly and we're dependent upon donors' generosity to do that! Rescue always takes a village. Please become part of Cocoa's and AATDR's village by donating today. No donation is too small - and we will be so very grateful for anything you can give. Cocoa is a sweet, friendly, happy boy and, even at his age, he has a lot of pep in his step. Your donations will support our care of him so that he can go on and live his best life for as long as possible! 6/5/26 Update Thanks to everyone who supported sweet Cocoa. He is continuing to do well. There appears to have been no permanent damage to his kidneys, which is wonderful. He also suffers from a collapsing trachea. Our vet feels that when vomiting was induced (absolutely necessary under the circumstances), it may have caused additional strain. For whatever reason, in the past week he's had increasing issues with that and is back on medication to help his breathing. He also has what appears to be a recurring breathing issue - it's unclear whether it's caused by infection or is part of the tracheal issue. At 12 years old, Cocoa is a relative "old man". He still absolutely has pep in his step and loves running around in the yard. We will keep providing as much supportive medical care as makes sense. His quality of life still remains great, and we are in this with Cocoa as long as he lets us know he is ready to enjoy his life.