Randy Etter and his dog Gemini are the absolute best friends. They’ve been together since Gemini was just a little puppy. They love each other so much and can’t live without each other, so when Etter found out he could lose Gemini forever, he vowed to do all he could to save Gemini’s life.
Four weeks ago, when Gemini was playing with Etter’s girlfriend’s daughter, an unfortunate incident happened. The baby throw her bottle out of her playpen at Gemini. Gemini always picked it up and his dad snatched it from him, and gave it back to the baby — but at some point, Gemini got ahold of the bottle without his dad realizing and ended up eating the top off of it.
Until Gemini started feeling quite ill, no one realized he had ingested something he shouldn’t have.
“He just started to slow down and I didn’t think that was normal, just laying beside me and following me everywhere,” Etter said. “I just felt like he was saying, ‘Help me.’”
When Gemini started vomiting uncontrollably, Etter knew something was very, very wrong and immediately took him to the vet. Unfortunately, at first, no one could tell him for sure what was wrong with Gemini.
“I lost my job driving vet to vet to vet and it just seemed like I wasn’t gonna get anywhere or get him the help he needed in time,” Etter said. “It was truly one of the scariest things I had to deal with.”
Finally, a vet confirmed that Gemini has a blockage inside of him. He needed surgery at a cost of $4500, but that amount was too big for Etter. However, losing Gemini was not an option, so he decided to put his car up for sale to try and raise at least part of the money to save his best friend’s life.
“I was gonna spend every dollar made from the car sale on his surgery,” Etter said. “I would be devastated if I lost my best friend.”
A friend lent Etter $2000, but it still wasn’t enough. Luckily, the S.O.A.R Initiative (Street Outreach Animal Response), a local charity, heard about his plight and decided to do everything they could to help Etter and Gemini.
They were able to raise nearly $3,000 in donations from total strangers who just wanted to help the best friend pair continue their life together. With all of the donated money, Gemini was able to have the surgery — and made it through with flying colors.
Now, Gemini’s health is recovering very well, and he is safe in his father’s arms. Etter is so grateful to everyone who helped him keep Gemini alive, and can’t imagine what he would have done without everyone’s support.
