Moe

When rescuers first saw this little angel's photo, their hearts just about shattered. Moe and his little noggin' were, simply put, downright heartbreaking. The image indicated that somehow, his head has grown to the size of a grapefruit. Moe's head - and whatever was growing in it - was HUGE cause for alarm.

Doctors removed a portion of the bump and sent it off to be biopsied. Thankfully the diagnostic results brought HOPE. His big ol' bump on that noggin of his is just TVT -transmissible venereal tumor. While being diagnosed with TVT (and an ‘emergency' case of it, at that) isn't normally the news we wanted to hear. For little Moe, this was actually a HUGE blessing in disguise. That meant that his growing noggin was treatable! In fact, TVT is HIGHLY treatable – with almost a 100% likelihood that this cancer will be put into remission with chemotherapy sessions.

Unfortunately, TVT is widespread in countries with high numbers of homeless unsterilized dogs and is transferred through mating, so tumors will usually grow near the dog's reproduction organs. However, sometimes, the tumors will also spread to other areas – just as they did with this sweet boy's head. It does, however, require immediate and aggressive treatments, which meant weeks. And since poor Moe's also got TVT on his nether-regions, he was going to need rounds of chemotherapy to get those parts cancer-free as well.

TVT is sexually transmitted through direct skin-to-skin contact with the tumor that results in cancer cells being transplanted from dog to dog but it's usually seen on the genital area. It is basically a doggie STD. So how this TVT ended up on Moe's poor Lil noggin, we will never know. We never thought we would be grateful for TVT, but here we are, just feeling so incredibly glad his cancer wasn't a death sentence.

Moe received routine chemotherapy treatment and his tumor has shrunken to almost complete resolution! He handled treatments like an absolute champ, despite how aggressive they were. The chemotherapy really does affect every dog differently, so at the beginning, we were pretty nervous as to what to expect. So far, it's been relatively smooth-sailing.

When rescuers were first sent Moe's photo, he was just a street dog in Mexicali. They didn't know what he had going on, if it was treatable, or how much time they would have with him. But they said yes. Moe has raised over $1700 for his treatment which enabled him to get the medical care he needed! Thanks to YOU. Now, he's a part of his foster family forever because they can't imagine letting him go, and he will have many happy, healthy years to come! Thank you SO much to all.