Moyo has a mass...it needs to GO!

Hi, I'm Kerry - and Moyo is my C-PTSD dog. Moyo means HEART in Kiswahili: and she's all heart.

Someone once asked me whether she and I are similar, and my answer was "NO, she's far nicer than I am, and I can only ever hope to be vaguely like her!"

How do I explain my Moyo to you? I know everyone believes their pups are the best: I'm no different. Moyo IS the best, and the best thing that ever happened to me.

She wobbled into my life on her tiny legs as a 3 month-old Lab pup at a time when I truly needed her steadfast and calm love. Much training and a long four-hour exam later, she was given her ESA dog colours, becoming the very first dog to be registered with SADAG (South African Depression and Anxiety Group)

This story is not so much about me - all the reasons why I needed her then - why I need her still: it's about her.

Moyo is magnificent. She's delightful and loving and gentle, and a Truly Good Girl. That she always has me in focus, that she works to ground me when I need it (even when I am not aware that I have been triggered, and a vast panic attack sets in - she knows! before I do - and gets to work immediately), that she has taught me and continues to teach me to be present in the moment in every day, is just who she is.

Everything in her is about service.

And now she has a massive lump in her groin and another smaller one right near her left elbow - and I can't bear it. I can't bear how she is starting to struggle with going up and down stairs, navigating her hind leg around that mass, how patient she is when I try to do all the things "Dr. Google" has suggested - rub it gently with flax seed oil and tumeric paste, feed her Apple Cider Vinegar with her meals...I've tried quite a few things, and that mass has only grown and grown.

It's not hugely humongous yet - but it will be. And she deserves more than I am able to do for her these days.

Not for lack of trying, I have been unable to secure full time employment since my immigration to Canada (and I am still trying and will still keep trying!) but she needs to have the masses removed NOW.

I took her to our local vet again this afternoon - to ask what I can anticipate cost-wise to have Moyo made lump-less - and the amount was staggering.

How do I explain to her that I simply cannot do it? How do I look into those incredible eyes and say it's beyond me right now, my darling dog?

She trusts me. She trusts that I will help her - and I can't. Not by myself, and it humiliates me. I SHOULD be able to give her the support she has given me: so, I took a deep breath, stuck my pride in my pocket (and am giving myself a wedgie with my big-girl panties,) and am putting my hand out to ask for donations to Moyo's cause.

Our vet tells me I can anticipate between CA$3,500 and $5,000 depending on how deeply the larger mass has invaded the muscle in her inner thigh at the groin. There are ultrasounds required, and geriatric blood tests (Moyo is 9) to make sure she can withstand the surgery - and then the surgery itself, and the recovery. Our vet, at Family Pet Hospital, is fabulous and terrifically kind - he knows my impecunious state, but cannot assist with "free services," though he will do his best to cut me slack with the bill. I had reached out to SPCA and one or two other foundations - but as Moyo's case is not immediately life-threatening, they have very gently declined. I get that - I really do - there are so many other creatures with more urgent needs than my Moyo's, but it is agonising nevertheless to know I simply cannot do this for her without help.

Thank you for reading Moyo's story. Thank you for the goodness in supporting her.

(Once upon a time I wrote a fun little diary book for her - and tried to sell it through Amazon, pictures and all. I wrote it because she's FUNNY! and has such a fabulous world-view. :-) I would be glad to make sure that anyone donating receives a copy from Moyo if you would like one as thanks... Just let us know.)

She appeared in an online magazine as Ireland's Top Madras: you can read the story here: https://www.rsvplive.ie/life/english-lab-moyo-crowned-south-23911967

And also in an article on C-PSTD dogs in The Sunday Times of South Africa.

EDIT: Information on cost breakdown

I saw the vet this week: he gave me a breakdown which is roughly as follows- $360 for the blood tests (geriatric panel) $900 for the ultrasound (which includes mild sedation) $2,500-3,500 for the surgery itself depending on how deeply into muscle tissue the mass has invaded/ and or whether deep enough to have invaded the abdominal cavity/ $346 to have cytology done on mass and a bit of surrounding tissue to make sure it is removed in its entirety, $75 x2 for hospital stay, and then medications after surgery.

It does seem ludicrously expensive- but there it is. I am happy to give you our vet’s contact if you would like to verify this information. And will also supply the invoices as they come in once we can get this done. Any amount over what is required for this procedure that is raised in this fundraiser will be donated to McVitie programme in Vancouver. I approached them for assistance and they gently declined as her condition is not immediately life-threatening- they suggested starting a GoFundMe. 

 Thank you for caring. We truly appreciate this from you.