Originally published January 28, 2026 – Please scroll down for all updates.
Personal: My dog, Cosmo, needs surgery, and we have started a GiveSendGo donation page (no fees) to help cover the costs of procedures, tests, and treatment.
The GoFundMe page is still there, but we are not directing donors to it (too many fees)
The Goal is to raise several thousand dollars. Vet care, as many are aware, has gotten outrageously expensive.
Cosmo has a large lump that needs to be removed. We don’t know if it’s cancerous, but we need it removed to get it tested.
We lost our last lab to cancer, and we’d rather not repeat that if we can help it, and the cost of the surgery and follow-up is going to be a lot.
Any donation that can help us offset that is welcome.
And, yes, I feel ike all I do is ask our readers for money, but every donation is appreciated, as is any sum raised, but we do need to hit a goal of at least $1500.00 to start moving forward.
Thank you.
Use GiveSendGo to give a gift (No Fee)
[UPDATE] We were able to raise enough to schedule his surgery and pay for pre-op testing.
Cosmo is scheduled for surgery on the 26th of February. I will update the post if anything odd shows up in the pre-op bloodwork. For now, everything is a go. We’ll share some photos of him on surgery day and then post op.
Thank you again to everyone who gave a gift either through GiveSendGo, GoFundMe or by personal check.
Update 2
Update #2: Cosmo is in surgery
February 26th, 2026
I dropped Cosmo off at the vet this morning so they could prep him and perform his surgery. Everything looks good so far, and I’m expecting an update on this around noon ET (give or take). There was another goddie having a mass removal this morning, and the Vet tech didn’t know who was going first.
We expect to have him home and in the cone of despair after 3 pm today. I’ll provide another update after we get him home.
Thank you again to everyone who donated. With the handful of checks we received on top of the donation here, we raised enough to make this possible.
Update #3: Cosmo is out of surgery
February 26th, 2026
Cosmo is out of surgery, and they say everything went well. I can pick him up in a few hours. He has to take pain meds and antibiotics for another week to ten days, when he will go back to have his stitches out. I’ll update with any lab results on Cosmo or the mass they removed as they become available.
Update #4: Cosmo is home and recovering
February 27th, 2026
We had a bit of a (non-surgical) concern when we picked Cosmo up yesterday afternoon. He had an issue with his right rear leg that had nothing at all to do with the surgery. He was still wobbly from the anesthesia, but that leg was at a very odd angle from the hip, and he could barely walk on it.
It seemed like he was just passed out on it the wrong way, and it sort of got stuck. Talk about a mobility issue. But our concern has lessened. Today, he’s not back to normal but better. The Vet could not explain it but said to give it a few days and get back to them.
As for the surgery, the sutures look good, no seeping, very little swelling, and he is eating and drinking normally today. I got a few tag-wagging kisses, and despite the E-collar (working so far, so I don’t need to use the cone of doom yet), he is in improved spirits, tolerating his medications, and acting more like himself. He is on limited activity, so no long walks or playtime, which wouldn’t work with this weird leg-thing anyway.
We’ll give the leg the weekend to recover, and if it’s still not right, the Vet will have to eat the cost of figuring out what they did to him and how to fix it. But he is doing a lot better, and I suspect it will mend itself.
Update #5: All Clear!
I wanted to let everyone know that all of Cosmo’s tests have come back clear. This is such wonderful news. All that’s left is another week with the donut of doom, and he can get his stitches out. He likes the E-collar a lot better than the cone, so it’s a step up, but he’d love to step out of that and back to normal, as we all would. It is awkward getting in and out of his crate at night.
His mobility is mostly back to normal. As I reported previously, he had a right rear leg issue unrelated to the surgery. This has mostly self-corrected. He can climb stairs, go for walks, and he can jump on the couch and the bed (we let him do that). My sense is he is still rebuilding strength or recovering from whatever stress caused the leg thing, but he is in a good place with that as well.
Thanks again to everyone!
