If you’ve seen me in public in the last 18 months, you’ve seen Weasel. I got him as a puppy without intending to make him a service dog until I completely lost my mind on a cross-country flight. It took a year, but I had Weasel trained as a service dog. He freed me, especially after my mother died. He made going to the store, family gatherings, medical appointments, and travel possible. He went to work and school with me. He allowed me to return to some version of normal. We flew, we went to the beach, we went to DragonCon, we went to stadium concerts, we went to tournaments. We went places I couldn’t go without being heavily medicated.

On May 23rd, He was diagnosed with epilepsy. Epilepsy is somewhat common in beagles, so I didn’t immediately panic. The vet put him on meds, and months passed without an episode. On September 28th, he had a cluster of four seizures. The emergency vet added another med to his cocktail, and he was fine… for seven hours. From that time until 10pm, he was in an induced coma. He got a nasogastric tube to get oral anticonvulsants into his system. When the vet tried to back off the propofol, keeping him in a coma, he had a massive seizure. At this point, he also crashed and stopped breathing on his own. He was peacefully put to sleep at the emergency vet and is now in his urn on my mantle. This is the Cliffs Notes version because I do not want to trauma dump what we went through onto anyone else. He was only 3 years old.

So what do I do now? I spent close to $4000 training Weasel as a service dog. Thankfully, he had insurance, but I still have a $2000 veterinary balance. Now, I need help. For the “Adopt don’t Shop” people, please: I hear you. My house is full of adopted weirdos. However, I have sourced a beagle breeder with no history of epilepsy in her dogs. She has been breeding for 16 years. The man she got her first dogs from bred them for 30 years and never saw epilepsy. The two of them have effectively bred health problems out of the dogs over the years. Of course, something could always go wrong, but this puppy is a known entity with a known, traceable background. This puppy has a genetic line that has been health tested and proven sound. What I need help with is buying the dog. I intend to train the puppy myself. Weasel was an easy baby to train, and since beagles are so eager to please, I believe I can do the required training on my own. I am asking for help with Weasel’s medical balance and the purchase of a puppy. I am on the waiting list, and a puppy will likely be available between Thanksgiving and February or March. The cost of the puppy is $2500. I’m setting the amount high enough to cover my vet balances, the puppy, and the GoFundMe fees. Anything extra I will donate to FurKids, the rescue I got Weasel from. Thank you very much for reading this, and be well.