Please Help Support Finn's Urgent Medical Care

Hi, my name is Brooke and this is our dog, Finn. In 2015, we adopted Finn from a shelter in New Orleans and flew him home to Maryland, where he saw and played in snow for the first time soon after. Finn has been so healthy and has been part of our family ever since.

A little over a week ago Finn seemed lethargic, so we took him to the vet on Saturday, October 26. He had lab work done that came back last week and looked really great - nothing was out of the normal range. His lethargy improved too. He went trick or treating with us in him pumpkin costume and even on Friday night he lay snuggled against me as I worked on my computer.

On Saturday late morning, November 2, I started to walk upstairs and saw Finn shaking on the steps with blood on him. Then I saw two pools of blood at the top of the steps with drips of blood down the hall. I didn’t understand what was going on but I immediately carried him out the door and to the pet emergency facility - Veterinarian Emergency Group. They gave him fluids and did a variety of tests. Based off of his lab values he needed a blood transfusion immediately. We and they called around while Finn lay on a table between us. We found one place in Washington, DC with blood and we took off, driving Finn there. It was a hard drive and he was fading. His red blood cell percentage was .43 when tested at VEG. When we arrived at Friendship in DC 50 minutes later he was nearly unresponsive and they immediately took him back and started the transfusion bolus within minutes. They didn’t even have time to type his blood (the previous location was unable to get a type due to how low his RBC was).

The vet suspects IMHA or a tick-borne disease that is killing his red blood cells. They allowed us to come see him a few hours after his first transfusion and it was incredible to see him sitting upright and conscious again. He instantly licked my face as I kissed him and told him how much I loved him and he even stood up when we left.

I’ve never asked for financial support for a pet’s vet care before - and we’ve had so many losses and huge bills in the past few years, from hemangiosarcoma, feline kidney disease and diabetes, various cancers, a feline heart block, feline asthma, and more. We have 9 other pets - all rescues that we have dedicated our lives to helping also. Our pets are really important to us and I’ve done volunteer work with cats, dogs, and horses since I was a child.

This is such a large bill and we would love truly any help or support with this. We paid the low end estimate at Friendship $8,798 as well as the bill at the first emergency vet yesterday which was $1,945. Our high end estimate at Friendship is over $13,000, which could be as much as $15,000 between both emergency vets from Saturday November 2. Finn is staying in ICU care overnight and possibly longer. The vet feels if we can get him stable and through this we should be able to manage if he has IMHA or a tick borne disease. We just need help getting through this period. We would love any help paying for this bill. Thank you for your help.

Friendship can also be paid directly at:

We are account number 99881 on behalf of Finn Tyson (my name is Brooke Tyson).

Thank you for any help and positive thoughts. It means so much to us and to Finn. Thank you.