Just When Things Start Looking Up...

...We get knocked back on our asses.
My entire life has been like this; I get ahead a little bit, and then knocked back twice as far.
Rick took our 2 year old pup Winston to the vet today to have his ears looked at. Since he was about 8 months old, Winston has had ear issues. According to the vet, he has the narrowest ear canals he's ever seen. This means he is susceptible to ear infections. Anything from getting a coupe drops of water in there when I bathe him, to being out in the wind or rain, to just getting too excited and his body temperature getting too high can cause the infection to flare up. This is a problem that some breeds are more likely to develop, shar peis being one of them.
Rick is in a constant battle, putting cortisone cream and Polysporin in and around Winstons ears to keep the infection down. Lately, Rick has been losing ground against the grossness that develops in there. It's smelly, infected, and just disgusting, and it makes both Rick and myself feel like bad puppy parents because we can't make him feel better.
At the appointment today, the vet said surgery was inevitable. Either do it now, while he can still hear, or wait until he goes deaf. Basically, what they are going to do is drill his ear canals open. I don't know all the details, because I wasn't at the appointment. All I know is that they are going to have our dog at their office for about a week for him to heal up. After that, he will have to take it easy for up to 6 weeks so he can finish healing.

This surgery is expensive, between $800 and $1200 and we just don't have the funds to cover it all right now. If you would like to help us cover his surgery, I will be eternally grateful. If you use the code ForWinston in my Etsy shop, you will get 25% off your entire purchase, including the winter wear I recently marked down. Every penny from my shop will go towards paying for this surgery for the next month, or until his surgery is fully paid for.
If there isn't anything in the shop that you like, please just share this with anyone you can. He's such a good dog, we can't let him suffer anymore than he already has. His wrinkly face is just too adorable.