Dog's life saved thanks to Tampa non-profit
TAMPA - A Tampa nonprofit helped pay for emergency surgery for a Polk County dog, whose bladder was filled to the brim with bladder stones.
Jennifer Ramirez told FOX 13 she noticed her four-year-old dog, Sugar, began struggling to go to the bathroom.
She took Sugar to the vet for x-rays, which showed the dog’s bladder full of stones. Surgery to remove them was going to cost around $1,400.
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"Where am I going to get this money? How am I going to do this?" Ramirez said when she got the bill. "What am I going to cut back on this week and this month to make this possible?"
That’s when somebody recommended Frankie’s Friends. Ramirez said she had never heard of the Tampa nonprofit before, which helps pay for emergency and specialty procedures for pets like Sugar.
"We don't ever want finances to be the reason that a pet doesn’t get the treatment that they need," Frankie’s Friends executive director Danielle Martin said.
Frankie’s Friends sent $1,000 to a Lakeland animal hospital for Sugar’s surgery after Ramirez submitted an application for the funds.
"We actually call the veterinary hospital to confirm the prognosis. We confirm the medical records. We confirm the estimate," Martin said of the organization’s application process. "So we do our due diligence to make sure that everything that they've provided is accurate and up to date, and that we're using our funds to the best of our ability. And we make the payments directly to the treating veterinary hospital."
After Thursday’s procedure was done, Ramirez said she could not believe the surgeons were able to fill a cup with Sugar’s bladder stones.
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"It was just astonishing to see," Ramirez said. "Her bladder was so full that there was literally no room for urine."
Sugar is now at home recovering with her family, who is thankful for friends like Frankie’s.
"They saved her life," Ramirez said.