November 2025 my young dog Yolo had a migrating foreign body causing an abscess in his spinal muscles and a lung. Three months later his sire, Mando, had one that caused him to lose half his right lung. Mando required a second surgery to remove more diseased lung and tissue three weeks later, and 7 weeks total of veterinary care where he was hospitalized something like 20+ days, and racked up a bill over $80,000 on top of Yolo's $20,000 bill. I'm hoping to both raise some money for them, and also remind people to do tailgate checks on their dogs after every hunt. If we expect them to give it their all and finish on empty, we owe them nothing less than the best pre- and post-hunt care.

Yolo after his first CT. He was so painful and symptoms came on so quietly. He yelped when he jumped up the morning before I initially brought him in, he seemed painful in his abdomen and reluctant to extend his right rear hip so I assumed it was a muscle injury, and 24 hours later he was so painful I wanted to cry.

Mando after his first surgery. He had 1:1 nursing for 24 hours on high flow oxygen after he stopped breathing post-op and had to be re-intubated and given manual breaths for an hour before he started to breathe on his own again.

Mando post-op surgery number two, with a chest tube, two IV catheters, and an arterial catheter.

Mando developed an antibiotic resistant staph infection and had to have 16 days of blood and urine testing because the best antibiotic for the infection was injectable only and had the potential to cause kidney damage.

Mando 7 weeks after his first surgery, 4.5 weeks after his second.