Sophie Fund

As I've mentioned a few times, I have some worries about my dog's health. She's nine and a half years old, and she's the sweetest thing ever.

One of the reasons I was so upset about losing my other part time job was because I was trying to save up to pay for a much needed vet trip for her. Now my savings are shot and I'm scraping by month to month, so even a check-up is looking unlikely at this point--I can barely feed her and my cat.

Sophie has a lump on her chest and her behavior has been off lately, leading me to suspect something is wrong. This is a big part of why I've decided to go subscription only in the new year, and ever single dollar that comes in will be going towards Sophie getting properly checked out and treated. I've lost pets to illnesses before, despite thousands of dollars being spent to help them, and I don't know if I have it in me to watch it happen again. Not after what she and I have been through together the past few years.

Here's Sophie, for those who would like to meet her:

She's a beagle corgi cross. I've had her since she was seven weeks old. Here's her as a wee pup.

She also has a Dogbook profile 'cause I'm a nerd, and you can be her friend.

The first donation I've had in a couple of months came in the other day (thanks Jennifer!), so I've decided to start up a Sophie fund metre. I'll add to it whenever I have money left over after paying bills and groceries every month, and all donations received go towards it as well.

I'm aiming for $200 at this point (it shows zero on the widget, but that's because I set this up after the donation that just came in, so picture it with $20 in it), as that usually covers a check up and some basic tests. I'm not doing a big drive because I don't know for sure if the tumor is malignant or not. If it turns out she needs surgery, I'll do something a little bigger after I see what arrangements can be made (for example, my former vet allowed my ex and I to pay for our cat's bills over a six month period of time...which was good because it came to about $1500). When I was a little more flush with cash in the spring, I myself donated here and there to people whose pets had to go for major surgery, so I'm hoping that earned me and Sophie some good karma in case it comes to that for us.

If you value what you've read for free and haven't thrown in a tip, now would be a great time to do so.

For the record, I'm also trying to come up with some way of giving back to anyone who donates (new or former). Not sure what at this time...bonus short story? e-copy of my backlist? (That makes me nervous 'cause of my experiences with e-piracy, but we'll see.) Any ideas, gimme a shout 'cause I'm always open to hear them.

I'll keep everyone updated. Thanks for reading.