Hi my name is Max, I am a 13 year old Rat Terrier and I am in a little bit of trouble. Here is my story....I was a Christmas gift to a sweet 12 year old girl named Bri 13 years ago. Her uncle brought me as a Christmas present for Bri unbeknownst to her parents. I almost didn't get to stay with Bri because her stepfather didn't want a dog in the house. That was an interesting day! Somehow I was allowed to stay due to the lobbying of Debbie (Bri's mom). I was happy that I got to stay and so was little Bri and her mom, Debbie.

Around the time I was a 6 month old puppy, I came across a cat that must not have been too happy to meet me. To this day I don't know why and I didn't see it coming, but that cat threw a right hook towards my face that caught my left eye. That hurt! Those cat claws are really sharp. Well, I ended up losing my left eye. They tried to save it but there were too many complications and they finally had to take out my eye. They sewed my eye lid shut. Everyone was so sad, including me, but quickly I learned to adapt to seeing and functioning with just one eye. I realized that a lot of dogs have it a lot worse then I did.

At first I was a little nervous of what others might think of me with my one eye, but luckily my face is mostly black, so as it turned out, no one could really tell that I only had one eye. It looked pretty natural I was told. My confidence grew over time.

I became so accustomed to having just one eye I could do almost anything...one of my favorite things was to have someone throw my flying squirrel as far and high as they could, and then to run as fast as I could, looking backwards, upwards, and over my shoulder, (with one eye) in order to locate my flying squirrel that was whizzing somewhere overhead. I would find it flying up overhead and then try to time my jump and jump as high as I could to try and catch it in the air.

Sometimes I made great catches and would land on all fours very gracefully, sometimes I would just miss it, and sometimes I would really miss it and then tumble and roll on the ground. It was fun and I always knew I was doing well when I could hear cheering and the clapping of someone's hands nearby.

Somewhere along the way Emma showed up (a brown Mountain Cur puppy mix around the same size, maybe a little bigger, than I am). We became great friends and are still so to this day.

We love to play wrestle with each other and sleep next to each other almost every day.

Sometimes Emma tries to eat my food from my bowl which I do not like and she knows it. She eats faster than I do and always teases me that she is going to eat my food. I try to act tough and throw a small fit so she gets yelled at by someone. It usually works, but I really can't turn my back for a second. Let's put it this way...."I always keep an eye on her when there is food left in my bowl!" Bad joke. Sorry.

Recently, well I guess about 2-3 months ago, I got some sort of infection in my empty/closed eye socket. "It came-on out of the blue", Debbie said. I did not feel well and my mom (Debbie) noticed my closed eye lid getting bigger and bigger over a couple of days. It grew to almost the size of a golf ball. Debbie was very worried and took me to the vet. I received treatment where the doctor cut a small slit in my sewn-shut eye lid in order to clean out the eye socket and drain what was in-there.

I had to go home with a big cone on my head which I did not like. The drugs made me feel ok though, Emma was very concerned, and of course Debbie took wonderful care of me.

I didn't mention this earlier, but it's now just Debbie, Emma, and I in the house now.  Bri is all grown up and moved away to Madison. I always love it when she comes to visit.

She was very sad to hear what was going on with her "babe-ers". That's what Debbie and Bri call me...."babe-ers". I just let them. They really love me.

I was on antibiotics for a few days and started getting better. The problem (and I only know this because I overheard Debbie talking to someone on the phone) was that my little "eye problem" ended up costing Debbie about $740.00 for my first visit to the vet.   I guess I don't have any health insurance coverage.

To make matters worse, I know it was suggested by more than one person who Debbie had spoken with on the phone over the course of a few days, that maybe she should have had me "put to sleep". Even I know what that means!

Well, Debbie loves me too much for that and she knew that she just had to spend the money to get me fixed. She also know that Bri would want the same. I know that Debbie, as a single woman, providing for Emma and myself, and trying to provide us a home to live in, having to pay for the cost of my vet bill, was a big challenge and sacrifice for her to make. I love her for that, and believe me, would help if I could.

I tired my best to get better, sleeping most of the day and drinking plenty of fluids, but despite the antibiotics and about 3 weeks of healing, suddenly my eye started swelling up again. Back to the vet Debbie took me.

She explained to them that she really could not afford another $700.00 vet bill, and for a minute I was worried she was going to have me put-down. But that was the farthest from her mind. Debbie asked the vet to fix me again. The vet put me to sleep again, stuck a needle in my eye this time and pulled out the gunk.

This time the culture came back showing some different organism was growing in my eye socket and I was placed on another antibiotic for the next 4 weeks. Sadly, the vet bill came up to over $700.00 again. I knew that would take care of the rest of Debbie's savings account.

She was worried but again, gladly made the sacrifice to try and get me fixed. My eye socket swelling went down again and for about 3 1/2 weeks it looked liked I was "out of the woods".

Then, the other day, with only 3 days of antibiotics remaining, my eye socket suddenly started swelling-up again. Debbie was so sad. She was sad because she thought I was all better and she was sad because I was getting in trouble again with my bad eye. I know she is now out of "get Max fixed" money, and I also know that she will somehow make more sacrifices to help get me fixed yet again.

So tomorrow I am on my way back to the vet for the third time and tonight I over-heard Debbie say that she could never "put me down" because I still have some really good years left (once I get over this eye-thing) and because it would crush Bri's heart as well as her own. Thank Goodness!! I would miss them!

Update: On my third visit to the vet clinic they tried something a little different and placed a drain tube through my swollen eye socket with the hopes that it will promote draining and prevent a buildup of yucky fluid. So, here goes the cone-head "look"again.

So I am here to ask for your help today. I am hoping to raise about $2500.00 to help Debbie while she is helping me. The $2500.00 would cover the vet costs to date ($741, $729, and $404) as well as some of the incidental expenses (fees and taxes) associated with receiving a donated gift of that amount.

In closing, I just want to mention that I know it will be far easier for me to continue living with my one good eye then it would ever be for Debbie and Bri if they were to lose me. Especially at this point in time when I still have some good years left in me.

Thank you for reading my story and thank you for any help you are able to provide Debbie and myself.

Sincerely, Max