Been a long, crummy year, hard decision re: my chinchilla

[Lucy in the Sky]

This year has seen the roughest I have ever had. Diagnosed with MS in July after a terrible relapse. And things are piling up. All my pets have entered senior age groups, and with that has come vet bills, several of them. My chinchilla Pepper is the oldest of my pets, so this makes it even harder.
My sweet Pepper stopped eating his pellets 2 nights ago. He is taking CC, and oats and a shredded wheat. Our vet isn't in until Tuesday, so I can keep up the feeding until then, but then what?
Our car needs work, the motorcycle that is hubby's transportation just died and needs a part, the van we were going to buy lost it's alternator and our rent is going up $90 a month. How do I justify spending $300 on him when everything else is falling apart. We could put it on credit cards, along with the car parts, but is that responsible?
How do I say I can't afford to even find out what's wrong? I am just sick about it. And if I am not careful with the stress, I will be really sick. Last time I got this stressed, I had an MS relapse. So there's that too.
Have any of you ever run a fundraiser dog wash to help with a personal expense? Did it work? Did you raise much? Figure we could do about 20 small dogs in one day if just bath, brush, nails, maybe minor face/feet tail things. Ideas for raising $300 quick? I have to be careful not to over do it, I don't need any more body parts ruined by this awful disease.

[HoneyandChewiespal]

Never did the dog wash but my niece in law held a raffle / bake sale ( she was a pastry chef and my nephew is a chef- raffle was him cooking a 6 course meal for 8 in winners home, aka private chef for a night).
Whole Thing netted them over $700 which offset the cost of eye surgery for their dog.

[Emma123]

I am so sorry to hear of your situation.
Perhaps you could do a GoFundMe fundraiser? You know, the online fundraising site where people raise money for all sorts of things? $300 isn't a lot if a whole bunch of people chip in.
If you live in a rural area this may not be possible, but in some urban and suburban areas, there are funds for people who can not afford to get their pets veterinary care. For example, in NYC we have a fund fun by a non-profit specifically for that purpose. Maybe if you called the local shelters, animal control or local rescue groups, they could point you in the right direction or let you know if such a fund exists.
Do you have any low-cost veterinary clinics in your area? Of course, not all vets are equally skilled with animals like chinchillas, so that is a factor.
Also, do you know of CareCredit? It's a credit card specifically for veterinary expenses. You apply for it. The upside is that you can sometimes get a card with no finance fees for 6 months, but the downside is if you don't make your payments on time, they can come down on you hard with fees. It's dangerous if you aren't necessarily going to be able to make the monthly payments because you can get into serious debt.