Hi everyone, this is Gizmo. We had a highly unusual incident last week while I was babysitting. He is a healthy 15-year-old Chihuahua. I had fed both Gizmo and my dog Penelope some new dog food I had bought. Healthy, high-quality dog food that gave both dogs diarrhea for over a week. But because of Gizmo's age and switching brands, he had uncontrollable diarrhea and was throwing up. By day three, he was throwing up bile and had blood in his stools. I took him to the emergency vet hospital, and they ran lots of tests. Bloodwork came back that all of his organs and everything was fine. It was just inflamed intestines and stomach lining. I took him home that night; no more throwing up, but he had more diarrhea, and the next morning it was pure blood. I rushed him back to the emergency vet, where he stayed another three days. Lots of blood work, multiple sonograms, chest x-rays; there was an IV in his arm for two days until his veins collapsed, and they had to put the IV in an artery in his neck. Poor baby, and because he hadn't eaten in so long, his blood glucose levels kept dropping, and his body became limp. They had to put a tube through his nose down into his stomach to start tube feeding him. He finally perked up on the third day, getting some nutrients in him. I thought we were going to lose him. The tears, the anxiety, the chronic stress… I haven't even processed or healed from having to put my own Chihuahua down five weeks ago. To lose another dog would have thrown me over the edge. Gizmo was released on day three, feeling very weak, and he would not eat for two more days, which was very alarming because if his blood glucose dropped too low, he could have a seizure and die. He is starting to eat a little bit now and is on the up and up, thank God. It's a miracle. Four days in the emergency vet hospital after all the tests they ran.

The bill is over $11,000. For the owner to come back to this when he got home from vacation is a tragedy.

If I can raise even a little bit, it will help relieve the financial burden and stress of saving Gizmo's life.