Lester’s dad noticed he was in pain and his inability to eat or drink was very unusual, so he took him to our emergency vet partner, @pacificsantacruzvetspec, where they determined that he had a gastric blockage, likely from a foreign object he swallowed.

As a student only working part time, his dad had very limited funds. To him, the cost of surgery was astronomical and it appeared that his only option was to euthanize Lester, even though Lester was very healthy otherwise. So the staff at Pacific & Santa Cruz Veterinary Specialists gave him a card for BirchBark, and to his great relief, he found that the BirchBark team was understanding, compassionate, helpful, and the process to apply was easy!
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Today, Lester is doing great and his dad gives BIG THANKS to BirchBark and their donors, and to the fantastic veterinary team at Pacific & Santa Cruz Veterinary Specialists, who all worked together to save Lester’s life.

“𝘓𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥. 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘏𝘦’𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 - 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩!”