09/01/2026
Sometimes, in animal welfare, you can do everything right and still find yourself sitting in an emergency room wondering how you got there.
That was us last night.
Just one week ago from this past Friday, our little Lola was at our regular veterinarian being evaluated for possible pain. We had noticed some changes in her behavior and, as we always do with our seniors, we wanted to make sure she was comfortable and figure out what was bothering her. X-rays were taken along with a thorough orthopedic examination, and our veterinarian found that she indeed was quite painful in her left hip as well as some places in her back and neck. No wonder her sassiness was on overdrive!
We started Lola on some new medications and she was doing okay.
She was starting to get back to our happy, only a little bit sassy little Lola again.
And then yesterday, everything changed.
When staff came in to feed the dogs last night, they noticed something was very wrong with Lola's right eye. It was suddenly swollen, discolored and covered in thick green discharge. Lola was pawing at it and clearly uncomfortable.
This wasn't something we had been watching develop for days. It was sudden.
After a quick examination by our medical staff and an attempt to gently flush the eye, it became clear that this was much more serious than a little irritation. We didn't know what had happened, but eye pain can be excrutiating and we had to assume something significant was going on inside that right eye. We immediately gave her the additional dose of as-needed pain medication prescribed to help with her discomfort.
One possibility is that Lola may have somehow been poked in the corner of her eye by a piece of grass, a stick, or something similar. A tiny injury may have occurred that nobody could see and somehow allowed infection to develop deep behind the eye. We simply don't know. By the time we could see a problem, the damage was already extensive.
So we loaded our little girl into the car and headed to the emergency veterinary hospital in Middleton.
And then came the difficult news.
The emergency room veterinarian, Dr. Brinkman and her team, at VCA Veterinary Emergency Service & Veterinary Specialty Center examined Lola and found severe inflammation, infection and damage within the eye. There were changes that suggested something much deeper was happening, and unfortunately, this was not something that was likely to resolve with medication alone. Parts of Lola's third eyelid was already becoming necrotic.
We had to make some decisions.
And we had to make them quickly.
We could load her up on medications and take her home, praying they would work. We could be referred to the UW Vet School to see an ophthalmologist. We could have the vet perform an enucleation and remove the painful, dying eye.
We chose to have Lola's right eye removed.
Our little girl went into surgery last night around 9:00pm and remained hospitalized overnight for extra monitoring specifically because of her significant heart condition. During surgery Lola experienced two brief episodes of low blood pressure during anesthesia, but thankfully both resolved quickly.
We knew she needed that extra overnight monitoring by emergency technicians and we knew she needed veterinary care immediately available if something changed.
But knowing that didn't make leaving her there any easier.
We couldn't sleep.
We worried.
We waited.
And this morning, we went back to bring our sassy girl home.
Lola is resting comfortably now back at the JJH sanctuary. She has her medications, a stylish E-collar, a quiet place to rest and, most importantly, she is no longer in the pain she was experiencing last night.
She has been through so much since turning up at a shelter as a stray last Winter. Extensive dental surgery... heart disease diagnosis... sore hip and joints... and now this. But our little Lola is a fighter and has never showed any signs of slowing down yet.
If we are being completely honest, saying our medical funds are depleted is an understatement. We were still recovering financially from Lola's most recent x-rays and vet appointment when this happened.
We know we have been asking for help a lot lately. That is not lost on us.
Sometimes we hesitate before making another donation request because we know there are so many wonderful causes and so many people who need help. We are incredibly grateful for every fundraiser, every donation, every bag of food, every sponsorship and every person who has helped us care for these senior dogs. We truly are.
But this is also the reality of being a nonprofit sanctuary caring for elderly dogs.
The needs don't arrive on a schedule.
A successful fundraiser can help pay one bill, and then an emergency can happen the very next day.
A generous donation can fill the pantry, and then another senior needs a dental.
We celebrate the good days and the successful fundraisers, but behind the scenes we are also constantly balancing the unexpected medical needs of dogs whose bodies are simply more fragile because they are old.
Last night was one of those nights.
And today, we are tired. We are behind on a dozen other things. We are catching up on sleep when we can and trying to remember what day it is.
But our seniors come first.
They always will.
Because when we take these dogs in, we make them a promise.
We promise that they will not be forgotten.
We promise that their pain will not be ignored.
We promise that when something goes wrong, someone will be there to comfort and advocate for them.
We promise that their age will never be the sole reason we decide they are no longer worth saving.
Lola deserved that promise.
And so we drove through the night.
We made the difficult decisions.
We stayed awake worrying about her.
And we made sure she had the care she needed.
Now we need a little help paying for it.
Lola's emergency surgery and overnight hospitalization were a large and completely unexpected expense, coming so soon after her other recent medical care and depleating our medical funds of $2,330.
For now we will have to pay this bill and give our medical fund time to rebuild a little before we can consider taking in another senior dog at the sanctuary.
If you are able to help with Lola's emergency bill, you can do so by clicking the Donate button on this post. Every dollar helps us continue to say yes when one of our seniors suddenly needs us.
And if you can't donate, please share Lola's story. Sometimes a share reaches the person who can help.
Lola is a senior but she is one with s***k and sass that loves life and can fully recover from this. How could we do anything but give her that chance?
