About the Campaign
Jodeci is a 6-year-old male Rat Terrier with a large tumor in his lung, diagnosed at stage 2. His surgeon at BluePearl Pet Hospital in Grand Rapids has recommended a lung lobectomy, removing the section of lung the tumor is in, and sending the tissue for testing.
It started with a cough. Dantinequa’s regular vet only handles basics like vaccines, spay and neuter, and microchips, so they sent her to another clinic. That vet put Jodeci on an anti-inflammatory and a cough suppressant. He finished the medication and the cough did not go away, so she brought him back. X-rays showed a mass in his chest. A tumor in the lung takes up space the lung needs to expand, which is why a cough that won’t clear is often the first sign.
Jodeci didn’t start out as Dantinequa’s dog. He belonged to her mother, who got him from a friend when he was about eight weeks old. Her mother had loved the personality of a Chihuahua they once had, and she picked Jodeci thinking he was a Chihuahua puppy. He turned out to be a Rat Terrier, and she loved him anyway. Dantinequa lived with her mother her entire life, and she describes her as her best friend and soulmate. In 2022 her mother died in her sleep, suddenly, at home. Jodeci is what she has left of her, and she says losing him would be like losing her mother all over again.
Since her mother’s death, Dantinequa has been on her own with no safety net. She works as a gas station attendant at minimum wage with no health insurance or benefits. After she lost the home she and her mother rented together, she found an apartment but could not keep up and was evicted. She now lives in a Motel 6 (and pays $1,600 a month for the room!). She has applied for public assistance and does not qualify, and her brother, the only family she is close to, cannot afford to help. An $8,000 surgery is more than she earns in months.
Jodeci is still eating, still himself, and still by her side. Donations will cover his surgical consultation, bloodwork, anesthesia, the lung lobectomy, chest tube, overnight hospitalization and nursing care, pain medication, biopsy of the tumor, and his two-week recheck. All donations are paid only to the veterinarian. The full estimate is below, click to enlarge:
