I'm Tyger, and the picture above is Turbo, my 11 year old chihuahua. Before we get into the issues at hand, I'd like to be transparent and let anyone reading this know that this account was created to help protect my personal information across the internet as there are some people in the world who thrive on causing issues for others in many hurtful ways. The location info is not accurate to my actual location simply to avoid these kinds of issues.

I have a really difficult time asking for help with nearly anything, but especially when finances are involved. I generally try to handle things on my own and it has caused issues in the past. While I would like to be able to handle this issue on my own as well, it has become apparent to me that I will need help; even if asking for it is difficult for me.

There have been a rash of unexpected medical issues in my household recently. Multiple emergency room visits, a hard bout with COVID, complications with my health due to my past back injuries, and a new lifelong condition that is impacting my little fur-baby, Turbo. All of these have racked up the medical bills and, in the case of Turbo, will continue to cause medical expenses that must be maintained for the rest of his life. I have decent health insurance for myself that helps greatly; however, I didn't expect the uncovered expenses to amount to so much on their own.

Each visit to the emergency room, aside from the procedures or tests involved, had their own costs simply from the act of going there. The really surprising costs to me were actually the veterinarian costs for finding out what was happening with my sweet little guy, Turbo.

I've had Turbo with me for the past 11 years; ever since he was two and a half months old. He's been a constant companion who has helped me through so many tough times and even made it where I no longer needed to be on anti-depressant medication. I honestly feel that he has saved my life in so many ways. How could I not do everything I can to do the same for him?

Taking him into the vet was roughly $350 on it's own; furthermore, the need to go to take him to a specialist in another city to get him more diagnostics was unexpected and more expensive. The vet referred us to another facility and it cost around $2800 just to get the MRI done. And without any kind of pet health insurance or the ability to have those kinds of funds on hand, of course the costs had to go on my credit cards.

All this was done to determine that the vet doesn't have a concrete cause for the violent seizures Turbo has been having in the recent past. The sight of Turbo having one of these seizures was terrifying and left me crying while holding him in my arms and just petting him in hopes of him being alright. The loss of control of his bodily functions may have been messy, but it didn't matter. I was so scared that I was about to lose him that I just held him until his senses returned and then took him to the tub for a bath.

The vet prescribed pills that Turbo will need to take for the rest of his life that should control his seizures and hopefully prevent them from happening in the future. This too is more of an experiment in finding the solution than just a solution on its own. When talking with others about this turn of events, I learned that these medications are dangerous for my dog's liver and/or kidneys to the point where they could cause their own set of complications in the future. I have a follow-up appointment set with the vet in about a month where I plan to ask him for more details on this aspect of the medication to see if there is either an alternate method of approach or if there is something we can do to avoid the damage to Turbo's internal organs while preventing the seizures.

The majority of the amount for this goal will be used to offset the unexpected medical expenses for Turbo. The remaining amount is aimed at covering some of the medical expenses incurred from the other incidents explained above. I find asking for this very difficult but I greatly appreciate any assistance given.

Thank you, in advance, for any help and support.