Violet

Violet was found wandering the desert in Apple Valley.  A good Samaritan took her to the shelter as a stray.  The shelter quickly identified that Violet needed serious medical help and rushed her to the vet, where it was determined that the right side of her jaw was broken.  The veterinarians did an emergency surgery to remove a 1-inch piece of bone that was sticking out of the side of her face.  AVAS then contacted us to see if we could help.  Without hesitation, our volunteer Shannon made the two hour drive to get her.  After multiple appointments with our veterinarians and follow up specialists, Xrays, and CT scans, it was determined that Violet had been shot in the face.  The bullet went into her mouth, through the bottom of her jaw, shattering the right side, and then impacting/wounding her chest area.  Violet needs multiple surgeries in order to reconstruct her jaw.  We are up for the task for sure.  

Shortly after her CT Scan with one of the specialists, Violet started acting "off".  Her behavior became more and more alarming and our worst fears came true.  Violet was diagnosed with distemper.  This is an almost always fatal diagnosis.  But our Violet is a fighter, and she said, "I didn't survive getting shot in the face to lose to a virus".  She beat it!  

Once she beat Distemper, we were able to start on her surgeries.  She had several broken teeth pulled and she was spayed.  She had to undergo a follow up surgery, as the teeth pulling caused her bite to be off, which resulted in some tissue damage inside her gums.  Several months passed and all of that healed up, and as we were prepping her for head to UC Davis for her jaw reconstruction.  Part of that prep was a second CT scan.  Guess what!!!!  Her jaw is healed enough that the specialist doesn't think she needs the jaw reconstruction.  This is such great news as that will save us about $6-7K.  To date, we have spent approximately $11K on Violet's care.  She is worth every penny.  Not all of her bills have been paid, as we do carry an outstanding balance at her primary vet's office.
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Bobby

Bobby was left at the shelter with a prolapsed rectum.  He was at the shelter for 3 days and they reached out, begging us to help, as they couldn't provide proper medical. How could we say no?  We immediately brought Bobby to our incredible vet and his staff, who stayed until 11pm doing surgery on Bobby.  The following day, the Bobby kept throwing up and the vet did an Xray, seeing a staple in his stomach. Another surgery came and went to fix that.  Bobby survived another 6 days, but his little body was so weak and he just couldn't handle everything.  Sadly he passed away.  The vet struggled emotionally with this loss, just as we did.  He hasn't provided us a bill yet, but we are expecting it to be several thousand dollars.  Despite Bobby passing, the vet bills still need to be paid. 

Lizzie

Sweet Lizzie found herslef at the shelter with a broken leg.  That + her age wasn't doing her any favors when it came to getting adopted.  We pulled her and got her to our vet, who deemed she needed a specialist to reset and pin her bones.  That has been done and Lizzie is thriving.  Her total vet expense was $6,000.

Remington

Remington was turned into the shelter as a stray, and even if that's true, we have to wonder what his life was like before becoming a stray.  He was just covered in skin infection, ear infection, parasites in his tummy, and to top it off, he contracted Strep Zooepidemicus (Strep Zoo) while at the shelter.  It was hard to decide what to tackle first.  He has taken a pharmacy room full of steroids and different antibiotics, and we got rid of the Strep Zoo.  The skin on  his back is mostly healed, but his chest and tummy are still a work in progress.  His ears are another story.  We have to continuously get oti packs at the vet and they are improving every day.  He has had approximately 12 lumps/bumps removed from his body, and his skin is clearing up slowly.  Skin is the hardest thing to heal.  In total, we have spent approximately $3K on medical for Remington.  

Abram

When we brought Abram home, he was skin stretched over bone.  He was covered in fleas (thankfully the shelter had given him a flea med, so they were dying), his skin was infected, his ears were wounded, and he had Strep Zoo.  We were so worried about him not being able to get over the upper respiratory because he was in such bad shape...but he pulled through.  He was treated for the upper respiratory, the skin infection/ear wound, got an ear cleaning.  He has also gotten some groceries, so he has put on weight.  He was diagnosed with Spondylosis, which will require ongoing care to keep him comfortable.  In mid February, one of his non-cancerous masses ruptured.  It was filled with blood.  It began bleeding and wouldn't stop.  We took him to the vet, who was very concerned about the blood loss, so he did emergency surgery to remove that mass + several other benign, but unsightly, masses.  In total, his medical has cost us roughly $2K.  

Becca

Becca was turned into the shelter with a vaginal prolapse.  She went into surgery immediately and the doctor was able to fix it.  She did need to stay a few days in the hospital to make sure she pulled through.  Thankfully she did.  Now, we are battling her allergies.  If you know Frenchies, you know allergies are just a part of what comes with them.  She is a dream, and may possibly need soft pallet surgery in the future.

Micheala "Mickey"

Micheala (Mickey) came to us from another rescue.  The foster lived closer to our vet, so we took her on so it was easier for us to get her medical care.  Micheala had an ear hematoma that just didn't heal, and eventually split her ear open.  our vet is currently treating it.  During her initial exam, he felt a suspicious lump deep in her abdomen that hadn't previously been noticed. We did a cytology on it, and it came back as cancer.  We are still exploring what our options are to give this sweet baby the best of what life has to offer.  To date, her medical has cost us nearly $1.5K.

Dave

Dave was euth listed at the South LA shelter due to a major ear infection.  We couldn't let this little cutie be euthanized over a simple ear infection...except, it wasn't an ear infection and Dave required a Total Ear Canal Ablation and Bulla Osteotomy (TECA-BO).  Basically, they needed to remove all of the inflamed tissue from his infected ear.  The procedure has been done, but it came at a time when we had multiple other medical cases come in. In total, Dave's procedures cost us roughly $3K.