Peanut

About the Campaign

Peanut is an 11-year-old male Maltese mix with a mass under his left armpit that his owner Justine says may be lymphoma. It cannot be seen through his fur, only felt. Bloodwork at North Figueroa Animal Hospital came back normal, which is encouraging but does not rule anything out.

The next step is a needle sample or biopsy to find out what the mass is, and then removal. Pets for Life, a program that helps low-income pet owners, has committed $300 toward his care, so Peanut doesn’t need much more!!

Let’s go walk already!

Justine found the lump about a year ago while giving Peanut a bath, and she has been trying to get him seen ever since. She reached out to Pets for Life in May and again in late August before they were able to connect her with a clinic. A year is a long time for a mass to sit untested, and if it is lymphoma or another cancer, the sooner it is diagnosed the more options there are.

Justine was 17 when she spotted a woman selling puppies off her porch for $10 apiece. The woman’s dog had gotten pregnant by a stray. Justine did not have $10, so she picked up babysitting work to earn it and went back for Peanut, who was three or four months old. She is 29 now. He has been with her through her whole adult life.

Justine’s financial situation is rough right now, and she doesn’t even have a place of her own. She has held cashier and clerk jobs and is looking for the next one. She gets CalFresh and is couch surfing between a friend’s place and her mother’s, with Peanut and her two other dogs in tow. There is no money for diagnostics, let alone surgery.

Good boy is ready to play!

Peanut has been patient for a year. Donations will cover his exam, cytology or biopsy of the mass, bloodwork, anesthesia, surgical removal if indicated, and pain medication, with Pets for Life’s $300 applied toward the total. All donations are paid only to the veterinarian. A previous estimate is below, click to enlarge: