If anyone knows Ryan or I, they know that Chomp is quite literally our baby. He goes everywhere with us, does everything with us, and is really the center of our entire lives. There are no words to describe how much we love this furry little creature.

Four days ago, we found out the worst news of our lives: Chomp has lymphoma. He is only 5 years old, and after a life of utterly no health problems, this came as a complete shock to the both of us. We have been total wrecks ever since we heard the news, and honestly we can't imagine our lives without this little guy.




When we got Chomp five years ago, he could fit in the palm of our hand. He was the cutest puppy we had ever seen, and he has always had the most unique personality. Over the course of those five years, Chomp has been there for every major milestone and hardship in our lives. Throughout all of the highs and lows, he has always been a constant source of love, companionship, and happiness. When everything seems to be going wrong, we can always count on him to be there, snuggly and ridiculous as ever.



He is the little brother to our other dachshund, Iggy. Being only a year apart in age, we always refer to these two as the wiener brothers, and they do everything together. Whether it's bath time, digging holes in the backyard, or hanging out at the beach, these guys are two dorky peas in a pod. Ever since we found out about Chomp's cancer, Iggy can tell something is wrong. He's been trying to nudge and play with Chomp more, confused as to why he's acting so funny. It's really been pretty heartbreaking to watch.




Over the years, Ryan and I have truly formed our lives around our puppy. If we can't take him somewhere, we're probably not going; if he seems unhappy, we drop everything to try to make him feel better. There is nothing either of us looks forward to more than coming home after a long day to his jumping and wagging at the front door, always followed by an assault of kisses and love. Everywhere we go, people fall in love with the little guy, and he even has a pretty exclusive fan club at the local Chick-Fil-A. He is the best thing that has ever happened to us, and we cannot bear to think about giving up on him so soon.




When we initially began noticing some health issues back in late November, we took him to a few vets to see what was wrong. They found an enlarged prostate, and one enlarged lymph node, but the vet told us that it was possible that the node was a reaction to a prostate infection. We gave him some antibiotics for the prostate and wa-lah! He got better!

For about a month he seemed like his old self, running around, mooching, and playing with every toy in sight. But towards the beginning of February we noticed that his lymph nodes in his neck were suddenly huge. It was as if overnight he went from having nothing wrong to golf balls on either side of his throat. We immediately took him to the vet, who proceeded to run a blood test, do an X-ray, and aspirate one of his neck nodes. All of the tests came back clear.

At this point, before receiving news that the aspirated node was negative for lymphoma, we were sure he had cancer. But after getting the aspirate results back, we felt a wave of relief wash over us. Thank goodness. He wasn't feeling good, but at least it wasn't cancer. The vet prescribed more antibiotics, and we went home more confused, but thankful, than ever.

Four days later, we started noticing a significant change in our puppy. He went from playing and jumping to sleeping and laying all day. He no longer wanted to jump up or down from the bed, and he would sleep on the hardwood floor unless we picked him up and put him on the bed. In a matter of days it seemed as though he lost all of his muscles, and picking him up started to feel like holding a little bag of bones. He was throwing up more often and drinking lots of water, and his chest lymph nodes were now suddenly enlarged as well. It was at this point that we knew something serious was going on.

We scheduled another ultrasound at the vet's request to see if any of his internal nodes were enlarged, and sure enough, they were. He was diagnosed with Stage IV B Lymphoma, and it took everything Ryan and I had to make it back out to the car without completely falling apart.

We had no idea what to do. We could not imagine our lives without him. He is our everything. We spent the next two days cuddling him and crying, trying to figure out how to proceed. On the one hand, the vets told us that lymphoma responds very well to chemo, but on the other we already have next to no money. Because I'm still in graduate school and interning at an unpaid placement, my income is pretty diminished. Likewise, Ryan is trying to help his family keep their business afloat, so he isn't generating any income either. This has left us basically broke, and with a whole new pile of vet bills to consider. We were confused, distraught, and beyond conflicted about what to do.

Yesterday we went to see a vet oncologist to just get an idea of what chemotherapy treatment would look like. Sitting in the room holding our adorable little bony puppy, we realized that there was no way we could let money get in the way of helping him fight for his life. Even with only a week or two left in him, he still managed to get up and try to hump my arm during the consultation (crazy little dude, haha). It became clear that he wasn't ready to go, and we couldn't bear to be the ones to tell him that he couldn't keep fighting.

We decided to start the first round of chemotherapy that day, because without it the vet told us that he only had a very short amount of time left, maybe two weeks at the most. The total cost of the treatment is estimated to be $6000, and as of right now we are trying to consider any and all options that would allow us to cover the costs for both the previous vet bills and his treatment.

We cannot express how much we love and care about our puppy, and any donations that are so graciously given would go towards paying off his treatment and his vet bills. We plan on doing everything we can to make sure he has the best chance at fighting this, and as long as he is willing to keep going, we will make sure that we don't stand in his way.

We would be beyond grateful for any kind of help, honestly every penny makes a difference. There is nothing that matters to us more than this perfect little puppy, and we just want to give him the best chance he can have at living the life he deserves to live.

Thank you so incredibly much for taking the time to read through this. Chomp is our very best friend, and your care and concern means more to us than we could ever express.