Hello! My name is Josh, i'm 30 years old, and I have two dogs, Zion, the black dog this is about, and an older dog Mitzy, both are rescues, I got Mitzy at 18 and Zion I helped hand feed and raise due to the mom not being able to, so I have spent my entire adult life with them, and I truely couldn't of asked for better dogs or best friends. I have never been the best with people but I always have loved animals, all kinds, so having these two have saved me more times than I can count in life.

He's the sweetest dog ever, anyone who has ever looked after him or seen him always says how much they love him and how he's the sweetest dog, he's a big baby, even after the XL bully ban, and being forced to be neutered and insured and wear a muzzle, he still is the happiest boy around people.

Recently on the 26th of December 2025, he made a random yelp, he is 10 years old and thinks he's a pup, so runs everywhere at 100mph, I assumed he'd pulled something and left him to rest, over the next day the pain increased for him to the point he was screaming in pain, taking him to the emergency vets, he was in for the next 3 days, they discovered he had a hematoma on his Carotid Artery in his neck, they went on to extract 200-250ml of blood from the area and made sure it didn't come back, I got him home 3 days laters and along with his medication it seemed he was recovering well.

The last two weeks however have been an on and off period where some days he's completely ok, and some days he's in agony for hours, the medication only does so much to numb the pain when it does come, after consulting my vets again, they can only make assumptions without further looking into it, but the costs of looking into it further come at a price, and I was let go from my employer at the start of the years ending my temporary employment making these impossible to achieve. I used my last fund over the previous months for multiple vet visits and medications, currently he takes steroids and gabbapentin to deal with the pain, but this isn't a permanent fix for him. And nobody will look further without payment for scans and bloods to confirm whats going on.

As of currently I have two options I have been told by the vets:

1) Euthanasia, the days he flares up are awful, and he struggles to sit, lay and eat on those days due to swelling in his neck, as much as I love him I can't bare to see him in pain, yet when he's having a good day he's jumping and rolling around like his crazy old self which shows me having the lump removed would save him from more pain. So this option is available, with private cremation would be around £560 I was quoted

2) Further tests, without testing they can only guess, but it's likely a aggressive tumour of sorts, surgery could save him, but again, this is even more expensive, after tests, medications, surgery and recovery it'll be in the £1000-£2000 range, but he has so much life left to live and deserves the chance

I never really liked asking anyone for anything, I always wanted to deal with it myself and not bother people, but I have 2 best friends in the whole world and I have 2 options available, i'd ideally like to see him live out his life longer, he is 10, with a average lifespan of around 14, so with surgery, its likely he can have a few more years as he should have. I have struggled with my own personal mental health for a long time, and my two dogs have been more effective than any medication available to help this, so I feel its only right I try every avenue possible to try and help my boy!!