Magnusson Veterinary Services

Tucker

Tucker is a 9-year-old Lab in Hudson, WI, who needs $105 for emergency GI surgery.

Hudson, WI

We got Tucker as a puppy, our small family of 3 at the time picked him out unanimously together. When we brought him home our daughter was over the moon and also confused because Tucker had gown so much since she last saw him as a baby. He has been a very good companion, a hunter, and the watchdog of our family for 9 years now. We have 3 kids all who love him very much. This summer they started agility' training him after seeing it on tv and visiting with a aunt who does that with her dogs. It took Tucker about 10 days and he really had made some huge progress weaving in and around poles & jumping small hurdles - our daughter was so proud of herself and the training progress she had made with him as we were of her! A few weeks ago Tucker became extremely sick, we took him to the vet right away, they started him on fluids he was dehydrated from vomiting - they suspected a blockage but were not sure, they did an xray with special beads to locate and scheduled him for surgery the next day - we brought him home that night and within 2 hours he was throwing up - we knew if we waited till morning he would be gone. We took him to the ER Vet where they found and removed a blockage...it was definitely a corn cob. He stayed there for 3 days - when we got him home we gave him his meds and within a few hours noticed he was lethargic - the vet told us he to give it till morning as he had been through so much he is probably really exhausted and need to rest- in the morning we were horrified to see our dog looking like a total zombie! the third eye lid was completely covering his eyes and he couldn't see - that the kids were terrified of him. We spent the rest of that week treating him for a severe sepsis like infection. In and out of the vet daily for fluids with a blind dog that was not eating, going to the bathroom and was being carried to move -.....nightmare....to say the least. When we picked him up that Friday evening we didn't know if we would be bringing him home - we made arrangements with a family member to stay with the kids and went to meet the vet to make the discussion no pet owner wants to make. We pulled every treatment out of the book that evening - our vet called it a 'hail mary' we had put so much effort in healing him that we agreed to give it till morning and brought him home. When we woke up Saturday morning it was like Christmas - Tucker was sitting up, his eyes were half visible and he was wagging his tail - He drank a little water, got up to go outside and went about his doggy business. TEARS of JOY! We of course were doing great till the vet bills showed up. We both work full time, we have taken side jobs to help cover the unexpected bills.