Fixing Finn

05/20/2023

We said goodbye to Finn today. Our hearts are broken but it was time. He is no longer suffering and the vet was surprised he lasted as long as he. He estimated that when we got Finn his kidneys were probably only functioning at around 10-15%. He made it 10 months. Way longer than any of us thought he would. We are so happy his last days were happy ones. He will be buried on our farm in the beautiful bottom shown in the last 2 photos. It was his favorite place. Run free Finn. Until we meet again.

05/19/2023

We’re taking Finn to the vet today to discuss possible end of life decisions. He has been very lethargic for several days now and threw up and had diarrhea all night last night. What little he is eating is not staying in and his weight has dwindled to where he is almost skin and bones. As much as we want to keep him with us, it would be selfish to make him suffer. We’re heartbroken. Even though we knew this day was coming we were secretly hoping he was going to beat the odds. 😞

05/15/2023

We have good days and not so good days. Today is a not so good day😞

04/25/2023

He cracks me up with these rocks 😂

04/22/2023

Tonight Finn is watching a documentary on wolves.

03/25/2023

FInn is still going strong. Today he was snuggling with his stuffed puppy.

01/22/2023

Farm days are the best days!

01/12/2023

Finn is still getting along well. After that last bout of low energy, most days you wouldn’t even realize he is sick. There are subtle signs like the fact that his nose is always hot and dry and he has times when he cant control his bladder, but most days he wrestles and fetches and plays like a normal young German Shepherd. Here’s a sample of our daily life😂

11/21/2022

We get good days and bad days now. Finn’s energy levels are way lower than they have been. He starts out pretty normal when he wakes up and wants to run and play like normal but by mid morning his body tells him to slow down and he spends most of the rest of the day sleeping. He is still eating and drinking although not as much as he did and he keeps a fever most of the time. He’s losing weight but overall does not appear to be in pain. Here he is snuggled up on the couch with one of his sisters.

11/17/2022

Getting to do his favorite thing…..snuggle with Daddy

11/16/2022

Finn’s kidneys are shutting down. I don’t think we have much time left with him. We are all so sad. He has been such a good boy. Our female shepherd has brought him his favorite ball this morning but he just doesn’t have any playing left in him right now.

10/22/2022

Finn relaxing with one of his cat sisters. This is great progress considering when we first got him I was scared he might kill the cats.

10/15/2022

Finn is enjoying a beautiful day playing fetch with his bff, Freyja.

10/14/2022

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I have bad news and have dreaded this. It seems more real now that I’m posting about it. Unfortunately Finn is in acute renal failure. There is nothing they can do to stop it. All we can do is keep him comfortable until his time comes to cross the rainbow bridge. So far, he is not showing ANY signs of being sick and our vet is surprised at how active he is given how high his numbers are remaining. Vet said he will most likely act fine until one day when he will just stop eating. After that his time will come very quickly, usually within a day or two. We do not know what caused it and probably never will. Really that’s not important since we can’t do anything to change it. Poor guy drew a terrible lot in life. Given this information we will not be doing an operation on his leg. His body isn’t strong enough for it given his advanced kidney disease. We will enjoy the time we have left with him and make the most of everyday. Our vet acted like with his numbers he could just go down anyday now without warning. We are heartbroken and wish it could have been different somehow.

09/18/2022

Snuggly boy

09/15/2022

Finn’s surgery was supposed to happen today, however late yesterday afternoon we got some very unfortunate news. On Tuesday we took Finn for his preop bloodwork and xrays. Unfortunately, his bloodwork came back with elevated kidney BUN and creatinin levels so we had to postpone surgery AGAIN until we know more about why they’re elevated. Finn has recently been on some medication for a skin condition that he also had when we got him. A condition that caused him to lose almost a third of his hair and to scratch constantly. Our vet advised to stop those medications and wait 2 weeks to test again. We hope and pray that his levels will be better then. If not, the prognosis isn’t great. If he has kidney problems and his levels remain at the same as they showed in this bloodwork then he most likley has significant kidney damage already. Damage that will shorten his life expectancy to 1-2 years. No matter what we discover in the next couple of weeks we plan to give Finn a loving home and keep him comfortable for as long as he lives. As of right now surgery has been tabled in lieu of kidney care. I will keep everyone updated. As long as it is ok with all who have donated, we would like to use donations toward kidney care, bloodwork, medication, additional vet visits etc. Please contact me via private message if you would like to have your donation returned. I don’t want anyone to feel like you were tricked and donated for a surgery that may not happen now. All funds WILL be used for vet care. Just maybe not the vet care we originally planned depending on what further testing shows. We are both very saddened to think we may not be able to have this sweet boy in our lives for a good long life. Please pray we get better test results going forward.

09/14/2022

Anybody need some weeds pulled? Finn’s an expert!😂

09/11/2022

Got to spend some time in the country this weekend. Finn enjoyed fetching sticks and even tried convincing me to toss a giant log for him😂. If you look closely at his left front leg (your right) in the log photo, you will notice his foot is nearly backwards from the way ot should be. Just 4 days until surgery!

09/09/2022

Yesterday Finn had his appointment at MedVet in Cincinnati, Oh. We loved the surgeon we met with and have decided to schedule his surgery with them. We loved Dr. Schultz. She explained exactly what had happened to his leg and her plan to fix it. He essentially crushed the growth plate of his ulna. This has cause the ulna to stop growing. While in a full grown dog this wouldn’t be a problem it is a problem for a growing puppy. While his ulna has stopped growing his radius (the other bone in the bottom part of his leg) hasnt. This is causing the large turn in his leg which will continue to get worse as he grows. That won’t be the worst part, however. The worst part is this will in turn create a problem further up the leg(essentially the elbow) where the humorous (top bone in the leg) meets the bottom part of the leg leading to the bones grinding together impeding movement and causing arthritis. Surgery is scheduled for September 15. Will keep everyone posted as we go forward. Thanks for following Finn’s journey!

09/09/2022

GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/503f15e9
Venmo: Jim-Lane-7690

This is Finn. He’s 10 months old. We rescued him about 6 weeks ago. Finn’s former owner was a drug addict who is now serving time in prison. As a result of the drug abuse, Finn suffered some serious neglect the worst of which was a broken left front leg that was never fixed and healed incorrectly. As you can see from the photos, it was a pretty bad break that crushed the growth and late on his ulna. If left like this, the turn in his leg will get worse as he finishes growing and arthritis will most likely set in. Amputation may be required if left also. He limps as a result and you can tell that he is in pain. Good news is, the orthopedic vet believes she can fix it with surgery. Bad news is the surgery will cost around $3500 Unfortunately, I don’t have the resources to pay for this surgery. His surgery is scheduled for September 15 at MedVet in Cincinnati, Oh. I know everyone is strapped for cash right now, but I am reaching out for donations toward Finn’s surgery. Any little bit helps. I have set up a GoFundMe account. Link is at the top of this post.
Thanks in advance for any help. You have no idea how hard it is to even ask since I know nearly everyone is hurting for money right now. Any small amount is appreciated. Finn thanks you too.

This is Finn. He’s a ten-month-old German Shepherd. My husband and I rescued him about six week… Laura Lane needs your support for Finn's Surgery Fundraiser

09/09/2022

https://gofund.me/cfb9cf1c

Please consider donating to help offset the cost of surgery for Finn's leg,

This is Finn. He’s a ten-month-old German Shepherd. My husband and I rescued him about six week… Laura Lane needs your support for Finn's Surgery Fundraiser