Help save Toby’s life! Emergency bleeding tumor

Thank you so much for clicking to read more about helping Toby! This really means the world to me and him at a moment as crucial as this one. My name is Jasmynn and Toby is my best friend. Toby is a funny, energetic and always hungry 14 year old Shih Tzu rescue who I begged my mom to adopt from an ASPCA truck in 2008 when I was 9 years old and he was 2. He has been tied to my hip ever since and despite his now old age, Toby is always the life of the party and loves to zoom down the stairs for his walks. Toby has so much life in him and it’s hard to believe he’s already 14! Toby is also so, so strong. In early 2020, just shy of my 21st birthday and amidst Covid-19, we discovered a marble sized tumor inside Toby’s left ear. My heart dropped and I took him straight to the low-cost vet mobile truck in Queens. The veterinarian quoted me $2,500 for a partial ear ablation surgery and $150 for blood work prior to surgery, the total price was half the rate of regular veterinarians and I was so grateful but scrambled to save up the money for what Toby needed. By late June I finally earned and saved enough to save Toby’s life, by this time the tumor was much bigger and started bleeding badly but my soldier had a successful surgery! The tumor inside his ear has not come back. I am crushed to say that there is however, another tumor on Toby’s back leg that I noticed redness and swelling of in October. One moment it was a red speck and now it’s the size of a walnut. Despite it rapidly growing in size Toby still runs up to me whenever I come through the front door, still jumps up onto bed, still spins like a mad man when I tease him with his favorite octopus chew toy, and still sits up on his hind legs when begging for a treat or his favorite, carrots! Toby is still my same youthful boy but this tumor is not waiting for anybody. I thought I had more time to save up for surgery the second time but it has just begun bleeding. We’ve been here before and once the bleeding begins it gets bad fast. Yesterday I took Toby straight to the low-cost vet mobile again and they told me his tumor has ruptured and he needs surgery ASAP. I paid $150 for blood work and I now have to wait 5 days for the results to come back to make sure Toby is fit to go under surgery again. They diagnosed his tumor as an ulcerated mast cell and prescribed him cephalexin for help with the risk of infection from the blood until I can pay in full/up-front to schedule his surgery, which was quoted at $1500. They also want to do a $200 biopsy test on the tumor once it’s removed to find out whether Toby has cancer and what kind and where. He’s now wearing a cone and gauze at home waiting for his blood work results and for me to get him the help he needs and I’m trying as hard as I can to come up with all the money we need as fast as possible. His tumor bleeds every few hours and the vet told me it’s crucial to schedule the surgery the day I get his blood results back. I am cleaning and caring for him on an hourly basis while I strategize. Every dollar saved, earned and donated will go towards his surgery and/or debt from his surgery and his tumor biopsy to figure out what’s wrong. The oldest Shih Tzu on record lived up to 23 years old and I believe with all my heart that this is not the end for Toby. From my research I think he has canine dermal hemangiosarcoma and I am terrified but I am also hopeful to at least get a few more months, maybe even years with my best friend. Toby and I are racing against time and we could really use help of any kind. Every single dollar gets us closer to successfully getting him out of this painful state of emergency he’s in and every share to another person who may be able to help is priceless. I can’t thank you enough for reading this far and we’re so grateful for any kind of help. I also hope you and your loved ones are healthy and hanging in there during the end of this heavy year. -With love and hope, Jasmynn and Toby!