Penguin

Penguin is nearly 5 years old. He’s a male Chihuahua mix. Earlier this summer he began showing signs of sickness. He was getting up in the night to drink water more often and was periodically vomitting. His ‘mom’ thought he was getting better, then noticed he’d lost a lot of weight and wasn’t eating as much, and his energy was very low. He began stumbling going up the stairs. That’s when he was taken to Associate Member hospital to Santa Cruz Veterinary. They did lab work and discovered he had a complication of diabetes mellitus called Ketoacidosis (DKA). He had to be hospitalized immediately and remain there three days. His family was heartbroken and didn’t know how they would cover the cost. BirchBark Foundation was contacted and was able to provide financial assistance for his hospitalization and a portion of his medication. Penguin is doing well and will have to be monitored. He still has lots of life and love in him.

Thank you very much Birchbark foundation for making it possible to get the medical help he needed. I will be forever grateful. I’m so happy to still have Penguin with us and that he is doing so good.—Esmeralda, Penguin’s mom.

To learn more about DKA, click here.