Toast has hard a hard run of things.

He showed up at my grandmother’s house in Mississippi, skinny as a rail; nothing but bones, really. She started feeding him, and he kept coming back and ate like he’d never eaten before. Even skinny, he was big enough to knock her down (if I was as hungry as he was, who knows what I’d get up to too!); so my wife and I decided to go get him, as the county shelter didn’t have capacity to bring on another stray.

We discovered he had some pretty horrible lesions on his feet, but we still wanted to help him. So, we brought him home. This was a choice I would make again, even knowing what I know now: he had scabies and ringworm. Since both of those conditions are very contagious, we decided to isolate for a month while he recovered, which really ended up being 6 weeks. While this was difficult, I wouldn’t trade my best buddy’s good health for anything in the world.

His two pupper brothers, Elgin and Bubba, didn’t care for the new resident too much, but they are both more healthy today because of him. Toast is SO active, and I make sure I give him a walk every day to make sure he doesn’t become destructive, and well, the two pupper brothers get a walk too, because that’s only fair.

Which is, well, the reason that I’m writing this, here and now. Yesterday, he was diagnosed with heartworm disease. He has a heart murmur (severity 3 of 6) presumably from damage already done by heartworms. He is on Nexguard Plus (which states it has heartworm prevention) but that apparently was ineffective. We are transitioning to Advantage Multi (which I am told will kill the baby heartworms / bacteria that is conducive to heartworm growth) on May 26th, since he got his last Nexguard Plus on April 26th. He starts a 30-day antibiotic on the same day.

Edit updated 6/3/25 (for additional context, please forgive the disconnect in narrative): we have engaged the services of a different local vet (that comes pretty highly recommended) and the cost for the treatment is looking to be significantly less costly. As such, I have lowered the fundraising goal to $1,100. Additionally, the new (to me) veterinarian says that we would be ill-advised to begin injections during the summer months due to the additional heat-strain on the heart during which the worms would be terminated, which also would put additional risk on Toast’s well-being.

We have agreed to allow treatment to begin in September at earliest. End of edit.

Edit 2: updating 6/19/25.

Toast is altogether doing ok, for now. I’ve disabled new donations, as my budget situation has gotten under control, and I think I’ll be able to come up with the rest of the funds myself. I’ll be updating this fundraiser with pictures of my precious boy in way of a thank you to my donors (I APPRECIATE YOU SO MUCH!!!!) and anyone else feel free to check in every now and then if you like! Please disregard the language encouraging you to donate, as I am leaving the original story intact (other than the edits within). End of edit 2.

IF you can donate here, I (and Toast!!!) would truly appreciate the help. I’ve had to make significant adjustments to my budget for the rest of the year, but rest assured that any donations will be directly assigned to Toast’s treatments.

Toast loves walks, rawhides, and well, chaos. That being said, he is a fast learner, so he’s learning how to be a VERY good boy. He would never bark in the house, no matter what.

That being said, he is very vocal when other dogs show such disrespect as when they have the AUDACITY to walk by HIS home, and he expresses his contentions with utmost intensity from the back yard.

Please, if you’re in a position to help my Toast overcome yet another sickness, we would readily accept help, and be forever grateful.

Thank you for considering this gofundme. I truly appreciate you all.

-William French