My Nina bear needs your help

My Nina needs your help to take her pain away.

Where to start with my story? I could probably write a book but will try and keep it as short as possible.

Nina my bear, as we refer to her, is a young 1 and half year old boerboel.

The story starts a little bit before Nina arriving on the scene..........

Mika was my heart and soul and was always by my side. She was a 7 year old boerboel who was still as healthy as could be, or so we thought. She developed a lump which looked a bit strange so we took her to the vet and the decision was made to remove the lump, just to be on the safe side. Nothing was further thought as she was a young healthy furry child. But Mika did not seem to get better after the operation. Her stomach started bloating and long story short, back and forth to the vet and no answers. We had to drain her stomach twice to reduce the fluid build up and still could not figure out what was happening. She kept on loosing weight. Just short of a month with back and forth to the vet, Mika lost the battle and we had to say our good byes. We now believe that it was cancer. My heart was shattered into million pieces and still today I miss her dearly.

So here Nina's story begins. My husband could not stand seeing me heart broken so he surprised me with Nina. Nina is even more bonded with me than Mika was and if I say I have a constant tail, I really do mean it. Everyone always comments about what a lovely role model she is for the boerboel breed as she is such a friendly and social dog.

So let's fast forward to about 3 weeks ago. We noticed Nina started limping but thought she was probably just playing rough as she also gets the zoomies and "crashes" into things. But then she did not want to eat, so off to the vet we go. Our vet is amazing and did a thorough check up on her. A few xrays later, it was discovered that she has elbow dysplasia in both her front legs. Once again my heart (which has sort of started mending) broke into pieces. More bad news for another furry baby. Only way to help Nina is to operate. She can lead a normal life once the operation is done. But it can only be done in Cape Town at the specialist and only one leg at a time. Meaning 2 trips to Cape Town and 2 operations. For those that don't know, Cape Town is about 500km away from Knysna, where we live.

So what else can you do but try and help your fur baby. We received the quote and it will cost +-R27 000 per leg. This excludes all traveling expenses.

We do have pet insurance but it will only cover the amount for 1 leg.

So here I am writing my shortened version of how Nina came into my life and what we have to go through shortly. We have booked her appointment for the operation on 19 December and the other leg will be done 8 to 12 weeks later.

Any amount to help Nina will be appreciated, no matter how small, it all adds up in the end.

If you have read my whole story and have made it to this point, I thank you for taking the time to read it.

Thanks for you support

Liezel, Nina and family