I accrued a pretty large amount of debt due the care required for my terminally ill ✱✱✱ that required me to ✱✱✱ a lot of my life expenses on credit cards since most of my tangible money was being used for his care through the ✱✱✱ of his life. He passed away in December of 2024 but recovering from the financial debts that gathered up from his cancer treatment and surgery, monthly medications for ✱✱✱✱✱✱ disease, hypertension, and hip dysplasia, and frequent vet visits for updated labs made a huge dent that is long-lasting. Vet visits for him often ✱✱✱✱✱ up in the $1,000 range due to how many tests he needed and his cancer surgery alone was $7,000 not including the testing and various treatments prior to it. For those of you that are sad reading this; first off, me too. Secondly, the cancer removal surgery extended his life by an additional 2 years! He died due to long-term complications from his ✱✱✱✱✱✱ disease that could not be prevented, NOT cancer. So... that was a ✱✱✱ win on it's own! Trigger was found ✱✱✱✱✱✱ out of a dumpster on a construction site by ✱✱✱✱✱✱✱ on the premises and the only reason we know his name is because he was wearing a collar with "Trigger" scrawled on it in sharpie marker. Whoever lost him wasn't looking, which is a shame because he's the sweetest ✱✱✱✱✱✱✱ I've had the pleasure of knowing. The vet estimated he was around 6 years old but it was ✱✱✱✱ to tell due to the decay to his teeth from ✱✱✱✱✱✱ garbage and living outside for an unknown amount of time. He also had (healed over because he was alone for so long) road rash scarring and lumps from gravel being stuck under his skin and healing over - like he had been thrown from a vehicle. When I saw him online needing a foster I immediately inquired because if you know anything about me, it's that I'm a ✱✱✱✱✱✱ for brindle ✱✱✱✱. (I have 2 more brindle ✱✱✱✱ that I've had since before Triggy.) He weighed 39 ✱✱✱✱✱✱ when I picked him up, and it took months of medications, de-worming, gentle care, and love to get him ✱✱✱✱ to his healthy weight which was 89 ✱✱✱✱✱✱. He almost starved to death in the streets but thankfully he did not. But, those circumstances still took a harsh toll on his ✱✱✱✱. Living off of whatever you can find in a trash can, in the woods, etc. is not a healthy lifestyle for a ✱✱✱. It did dramatic damage to his ✱✱✱✱✱✱✱, to the point where he was in stage 4 ✱✱✱✱✱✱ disease within a year of having him and only a few months after officially adopting him. Thankfully his "super list" of daily medications brought the values down significantly, and he lived a happy, healthy and comfortable life up until his cancer diagnosis and treatment, and then also continued to be comfortable and not in pain after his cancer surgery. His cancer was detected incredibly early by our amazing primary vet so although the surgery was very expensive, there were no complications and aside from getting on another expensive medication because he had his thyroid removed, it did not impact his overall health after surgery was a success. My love for my ✱✱✱ also extends past what we went through, but also who he was. He was a ✱✱✱ ✱✱✱, with a ✱✱✱ mouth, and had lived through trauma I can never begin to imagine but he was never a "scary" ✱✱✱ even though he had all the right ingredients. He loved humans, he loved his siblings, he helped me raise ✱✱✱✱ chickens and would let me lay them on his ✱✱✱✱ as he slept. He was a gentle giant, with patience for my more sassy ✱✱✱✱, and respect and love for his humans. He slept by my side every night and woke me up in the morning by laying on top of me and (lovingly) ✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱ me with his paws. He was funny, he was appreciative, and he was a ✱✱✱ that showed me that saving animals was something I wanted to do with my life. He was my first foster ✱✱✱ and he inspired me to save more local ✱✱✱✱ through fostering that were going to be euthanized due to shelter overcrowding (and he helped welcome those fosters home while he was with us.) After his passing - I was diagnosed with Prolonged Grief Disorder. The realest "I'm never gonna get over this, huh?" ✱✱✱✱✱✱ of my life. It impacted my ability to be productive and unfortunately negatively impacted my adult career briefly as I took a lot of time off during my grieving. I'm finally feeling okay, content with what I provided for him and the extension to his life that he probably would not have received without me, BUT holy moly I really piled up some insane debt from the whole thing. If you want to show your support for nothing in return just to be a great person - then you can help me make some progress towards paying off these debts! If we ✱✱✱ this goal, I will be able to start fostering ✱✱✱✱ again as I will have the disposable income to care for additional pets in the house and it would be a weight off my shoulders to no longer worry about credit card payments and ✱✱✱ my time into helping my community again.