Whew, sorry for all the dead-air time on this blog recently! We've been going 100 miles per hour with rescue around the clock it seems. I know many of you probably already know the latest report on Buck through his Facebook page, but I want to share it here as well.Uncle Buckle had his ERG at the eye specialist last week. We received both good and bad news from it. The bad news is that the left eye, which houses the older cataract, experienced retinal detachment at some point. This means that there is no hope for Buck to regain sight in that eye, with or without cataract removal surgery. Thus, we will not do the surgery on that eye and will instead manage the inflammation caused by the cataract with prescription drops. Now for the good news: Buck's right eye passed the ERG and is a perfect candidate for cataract surgery! He is scheduled to go under the knife next Tuesday, June 17, and will regain all vision in that eye. Hurray!
I know it's a bummer that we can't salvage the left eye, but hey - one eye is way better than none! Although St. Francis is willing to pay whatever it takes to give Buck the gift of sight, only doing one eye will reduce our bill by a good bit. That's not what we're focused on here, but it's a silver lining for sure.
St. Francis is doing pretty well raising funds to cover Buck's eye care. We've applied for a grant through the Doris Day Foundation. We've received a good amount of private donations from folks via Facebook, adoption events, and the St. Francis website. We've got $500 in GAP funds pledged from the San Jose shelter where Buck came from and the eye specialist is giving us a 30% rescue discount on his procedures. Without the rescue discount, Buck's diagnostics and surgery would cost roughly $5,500. We are still hoping to raise a total of $4,000 to cover follow-up visits and prescriptions. Although only fixing the one eye does reduce the surgery cost, it doesn't knock off quite as much as you might think. We're still paying for the vet's time and expertise, the use of the hospital's highly specialized equipment, a full day hospitalization, and slightly less anesthesia than we'd need for two eyes. The major difference is that we're only paying for one artificial lens implant, which knocks about $500-700 off the bill. So that's the state of Buck's financials for those of you who are curious. He's very fortunate to have St. Francis's and his followers' support. Last time I posted we didn't have a designated sponsorship page set up for Buck yet. We do now! If you'd like to do a one-time donation or a recurring sponsorship, please click this link to visit Buck's page: http://stfrancisanimal.rescuegroups.org/animals/sponsor_this_pet?AnimalID=6895219
In other Buck-related news, he's been doing great overall. He's got some itchy allergies and minor tummy issues going on that we're working to resolve. No biggie - just the normal stuff for an old man! Buck attended several adoption events over the last couple weeks. He's not available yet, but he really enjoys car rides, walks, and outings in general. One of his favorite outings is going to the food trucks at Willow Glen Movable Feast every Friday evening. He wears his fabulous blue "adopt me" vest and catches everybody's eyes. Check out the video below to see how excited Buck gets when he hears his leash and collar jingle! That signals him that he's about to go for an adventure. Thanks for reading our latest update! Stay tuned to read how Buck's surgery goes next Tuesday...can't wait to share pictures and videos of that tremendous life-changing moment!
