Nando 
Jessica McCaw
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Help Save Nando
Hello, my name is Jessie, and I am looking for some help paying for the medical care of my sweet Nando. My brave little guy wasn’t hungry for dinner when I got home from work last Sunday, something that was so strange for him that my partner and I immediately rushed him to the animal ER. They first assumed that he was just in GI stasis, even though I knew it was more serious than that. They weren’t experienced with rabbits at the ER, and were unable to get any blood, or an IV in him. So they just took x-rays, and were pretty sure that he had fluid in his abdominal cavity. They did give him SubQ fluids and medication for the pain, but then we went home and had to wait for an exotics vet to open. I slept on the floor with him all night. First thing the next morning, we took him to an exotics vet where they found that his red blood cells were only at 14% when they are supposed to be in the mid 30s. He was likely bleeding internally and the odds were terrible. We were given the option to either euthanize him or take a huge chance. We opted for the Hail Mary. A hero rabbit named Adrian saved Nan’s life with an emergency blood transfusion while I prepped the car to drive him 6 hours to an emergency specialist in Utah. It was the most harrowing journey of my life, speeding through the dark not knowing if he would make it, not even able to see him breathe, or touch him where he was hunched over in the back seat. We arrived at 1 in the morning and they immediately hooked him up to an IV. The next morning, one of my worst fears was confirmed, he had Liver Lobe Torsion (LLT). The vets prepped him for surgery and warned me that with everything, the odds of success were low, maybe 30-40% that he would wake up from surgery. But my little Nan is tough, not only did he wake up, but he was already eating the same day! Unfortunately, we aren’t out of the woods yet, they are still monitoring him and his stomach to help him get the gas out of his intestines. He is a fighter and keeps improving every day. He is in the best care imaginable at the vet in Utah, and I told Nando that I will move heaven and earth to make sure he keeps having a wonderful life for as long as I am lucky to have him.
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Nando is my best friend. Every night, we lay on the floor together and watch TV shows. He wakes me up in the mornings with what I call either “scarf mode” or “the face-hugger alien routine” where drapes himself over my neck and face for a massage before breakfast. He stands guard outside of the bathroom when I shower, and loves noogies and cuddles when I am working on the couch. He was my constant companion through grad school, and would greet me at the door with kisses when I came home from student teaching. I feel like he is the other half of my soul. Being away from him while he is healing has been horrible for me, but I made sure that he has one of my shirts to cuddle so he knows that I am always fighting for him. He had such a hard life before I rescued him, and I promised that he would never be neglected, or hurt again. My little angel came into my life when we both needed each other most, and he shows how close we are every single day since. Nando was first saved by my friend, whose landlords kept buying animals and neglecting them, and we were planning to liberate Nan and the rabbit that he was kept with from the small cage they spent their lives, left outside year-round in the harsh weather of the Rocky Mountains. Until one day in the late fall, my friend got home to see the cage in the trash. We feared the worst. She never saw the other bunny again, but for the next 3 months, she would occasionally see Nando come out of the forest behind the house. She left our food for him, and tried to lure him in. It wasn’t until 2 days before New Years that she succeeded. He hopped right up to her and let himself be picked up. That night the mountain he was left on got 2 feet of snow. He knew he needed to save himself, so when he came into my care, I named him after another hero who was forced to endure incredible hardship to save himself and his friends, Nando Parrado. He is one of the survivors of the 1972 Andes Disaster who survived 72 days in the Andes after a plane crash, and hiked out of the mountains after all hopes of rescue were lost. For the next year and a half, my little guy and I lived a charmed life. He got neutered, treated for fleas,and had both rounds of the RHDV2 vaccine. 10 months ago, my partner and I adopted a friend for him, Alan. They have been best friends ever since, and love cuddling on the hammock and giving us kisses in bed. They are the most joyful pair, and Alan is so sad with Nan still in treatment. I wish we could explain to him that he will see his friend again. I am just so excited for us to return to our wonderful little life of cuddling on the couch with a movie and lots of greens. Nando is my soul rabbit, I would do anything for him. I will go into debt to save him, and if I can get some help to prevent going into debt, then all of the rest of my money will go to making sure he has the best life any rabbit can have.
$10,000
$10,000
Donations: $0
Goal: $10,000
