Friday: The First Vet Visit

In December 2025, Reese ate some Christmas ornaments, which was originally discovered by pieces passing in his stool. He began vomiting and refusing food and water, so on Friday, December 5, his owner, Savannah, took him to his vet. He got X-Rays, bloodwork, subcutaneous fluids, and nausea medicine. The vet offered more medication, but the bill was already over $500, which was all Savannah had. He was sent home for monitoring, with Savannah being told to bring him to another vet over the weekend if his condition worsened.

Saturday Morning: Symptoms Get Worse

Reese was keeping water down, but struggling to walk, lethargic, refusing food, and denning. Savannah called another local vet that was open on weekends and explained the situation, including that she spent all of her money at the vet the day prior. The vet told her to bring Reese in right away anyway, as Savannah was working on making contact with several non-profits with hope that someone would be able to help her. However, when Savannah and Reese arrived at the vet ER, she was told he wouldn’t be treated until a $500 deposit was made.

Savannah and Reese sat in the waiting room for three hours, but all of the non-profits either left her on read, never saw her calls and messages, or didn’t have any funds available. She messaged the vet from Friday on Facebook, asking her to call the office and explain Reese’s lab results. The vet did call, saying she was worried about sending Reese home because she knew he needed more care. Eventually, Savannah was told to take Reese home and bring him back on Monday, either for treatment or to be put down if no one was able to help financially. By this point, Reese was leaking fluid that Savannah thought was bloody stool, but the vet assured Savannah that it was just stool (no blood) and that she should take him home until she could afford to treat him.

Saturday Evening: Rapid Decline

Savannah fed Reese chicken baby food and water with a baby syringe. While she was at work, she had her sister keep an eye on Reese, and around midnight, he began bleeding at a much higher rate—a rate that confirmed it was blood, not just stool. Reese was rushed to a 24 hour veterinary emergency room while Savannah called ahead to let them know the situation, including that two kind people had offered to call and pay his vet bill, but that with it being past midnight, they likely wouldn’t be able to call to pay until morning. The vet told her that without an upfront deposit, Reese would not be treated.

When Reese arrived at the ER, he was howling in pain, unable to walk, had seized at least once, and was struggling to breathe. His human dad begged and screamed for help with Savannah on the phone, and the vets said that with how far his condition had progressed, it could be $8,000-$10,000 to treat him. Savannah knew Reese wouldn’t make it until morning with no treatment or intervention, so she agreed to have him put down. The ER wanted over $200 for euthanasia, but after Savannah cried about how the money coming before the life is what put Reese in this situation, they offered to do it for free.

Savannah never got to say goodbye. Reese was only two years old when he was put down, while Savannah closed up at work.

If a human goes to the emergency room and has no money or insurance, they get treated and the bill is sent to them. If a pet goes to the emergency room and their owner has no money, they get sent home to die.

If he was able to receive proper treatment Friday, he would be alive today. If he had received treatment Saturday, he would be alive today. If the ER had treated him like an emergency, rather than like a charity case, he could very well be alive today. Reese should be running around Savannah’s backyard, eating Beggin’ Strips and wagging his tail. But multiple offices turned treatment down, knowing he would die, because they didn’t have money in hand.

All donations, grants, and fundraising efforts will go toward cases like Reese, where treatment can’t happen without financial aid, but lack of treatment will lead to death.

(Veterinarians and offices are kept anonymous. Blaming any one person doesn’t change the broken system. We promise to do everything we can to fix it, for Reese.)