Ozzie is a 9-year-old Border Collie in St Ann, MO, who needs $2,000 for tail caudectomy.

Ozzie is a beautiful, 9 years young, Border Collie mix. My family adopted him in 2014 from a rescue organization when he was two years old. He lived with two other families before finally finding his forever home with us. He loves his human dad, mom, brother and sister all equally. He has been the best dog ever, and we love him unconditionally in return.

His best friend is our 15 year old Maine Coon cat. These two furry friends love to take naps together on the bed, and watch the squirrels from the big window. We have used his herding nature to our advantage when the cat gets outside on occasion. We tell Ozzie to “get the kitty” and he immediately finds him and redirects back inside the house.

Ozzie has amazed us with his intelligence and eagerness to learn. He knows how to sit, stay, come, play dead, back up, give high fives, give paw, and his other paw! He never barks, so we had to teach him to “speak”. Though he prefers to “talk” with funny vocal noises. Playing fetch up and down our big hill is his favorite, and he would play for hours if only our energy matched his.

We noticed a red lump on the underside of Ozzie’s tail in early-October. We met with our vet later that month and they said the mass would need to be removed. He had surgery in early-November and the biopsy results diagnosed him with grade-3 soft tissue sarcoma. We consulted with Veterinary Specialty Services on Dec 1 and they recommend a tail caudectomy to prevent the cancer from metastasizing.

The estimate to have Ozzie’s tail amputated is $2956.62! We don’t have the extra income to pay for this procedure and are humbly asking for your help. He is still so playful and energetic, and has many quality years ahead of him if we can stop his cancer from spreading.