Hippo Needs Help - GOAL REACHED NO MORE NEEDED
A Fundraiser for Hippo The Rat's Surgery
Dunedin, Otago
Kia Ora Koutou.
UPDATE! DUE TO A MISCOMMUNICATION WITH THE VET, THE COST OF SURGERY IS LESS THAN ORGINALLY THOUGHT, AT JUST UNDER 1000 DOLLARS . MY APOLOGIES AND SINCEREST THANKS TO EVERYONE. THERE WAS NO INTENT TO MISLEAD OR DECIEVE ANYONE AND I WILL TRY TO GET A PORTION OF PEOPLES DONATIONS RETURNED TO THEM.
My name is Benji and if you know me, you will know how deeply I love my rats, especially my darling Hippo. No favorites, but Hippocrates is the most important thing in my whole world. He has been with me the longest of any of my rats, and we have been together through thick and thin - including the grief of losing 5 other rats in the space of two years, including saying goodbye to one of his cagemates YESTERDAY. They all passed due to unavoidable circumstances of old age, and there was nothing I could do to save them. Now, Hippo has developed a tumor, which is very expensive to remove, but I don't think I could forgive myself if I didn't try to do everything in my power to give him the best possible shot at living. Unfortunately, due to the costs of palliative care and euthanasia for his cagemate, my finances just cannot handle the cost of the surgery, even with a payment plan.
He is such a strong, active, and happy little bean, and unlike the others, I can truly tell he really isn't ready to say goodbye yet. And neither am I.
Anything you can spare toward this would be unbelievably appreciated, and you will have my eternal gratitude, love, and thanks.
Benji
Use of funds
Surgery and other vet costs to remove a tumor from my pet rat, Hippo.
Latest update
A Hard Day, and a Hard Decision. 21 September 2022
Hey everyone,
Today I finally got a call from the vet (which I'd been told I would get last *friday*) to discuss further details of the surgery after they had conferred with the surgeon.
Unfortunately, the vet is concerned whether the surgery will be too hard on his old body, and that they may 'get inside' only to find out that the tumor is too connected to other tissues and that nothing can be done. At that point, it would be a phone call to me to ask whether Hippo should ever wake up from surgery or not.
The worst part is, the vet couldn't even give me a solid "yes" or "no" about whether it is a good idea, simply that there is no way of really knowing until the surgery happens, and that there is still a high chance that nothing can be done.
So I now have about 24 hours to decide whether to go ahead with a risky procedure that may or may not help.
I don't know what to do, but hopefully after a night of sleep, I will have come to a decision.
If I decide not to go ahead with the surgery, I then have to work out if/how I can go about returning the money to everyone who donated.
Thanks for your patience while I work through this really hard time.
Benji
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