Terminally ill Auckland woman seeks new home for two dogs

Kim Girbin is looking for a forever home for fox terrier TJ, and Pomeranian cross Bella. Kim has terminal cancer and is giving her dogs away. Photo / Supplied

When Kim Girbin felt a lump in her neck two weeks ago she knew the cancer had returned, but she wasn't surprised.

The 40-year-old mother and grandmother had been feeling off, despite tests appearing to show the bowel cancer she was diagnosed with last year had retreated, after she had finished chemotherapy.

However one of her beloved dogs, fox terrier TJ, had gone off her food and generally seemed listless - much how she had behaved when Girbin was first diagnosed.

"TJ is a 10 years old foxy and Bella is 6 years old pom x silky. Both are girls. They need to go together as they like sisters," the ad reads. Photo / via Trade Me

"TJ is very human-like. There was nothing medically wrong with her, she had picked up on the fact that something was wrong with me," Girbin says.

Doctors believe Girbin's cancer has spread, but are unsure yet to what extent, and Giribin is realistic about her chances of survival.

After first being diagnosed she was told she had 18 months to live, but subsequent scans had renewed her hope and she began applying for jobs.

"I thought I might have had a couple of years because I was feeling so good," she says.

"But then I could just feel my body slowing. I started losing weight again. I was gutted. I have so much to do."

She has had to put the job hunt on the backburner and is now concentrating on finding her pooches a home, before she gets too sick to search.

Girbin has issued a public plea to Kiwis on Trade Me, particularly Aucklanders, who might be able to offer a home to TJ and TJ's friend Bella, a Pomeranian cross.

TJ is 10, and Bella is 6, and the decision has been hard for Girbin, who has had them since they were just a few weeks old.

"I think for (them) it will be good for them to be in a different home and a different environment," she says.

"I guess that's why I've started now, because things are pretty bad and I'd rather look now and find the perfect home for them. I'm just looking for someone within driving distance of Auckland, and someone who is going to love them as much as I do.

"They don't need much exercise but they do like to explore. They can't be locked up. I've had lots of people offer to come over to walk them but realistically, I do have terminal cancer and at some stage things are going to get bad. I just want my dogs in a happy place (now).

"I'd rather find them a home now than when I'm in hospital and getting desperate."

Kim Girbin is living with terminal colon cancer, given just months to live. Photo / via Facebook

She's hoping to keep the dogs close so she can at least visit them while she gets treatment, and she wants them to be at her funeral.

And if her only option is to have them at a distance, at the very least she hopes to find them a technology-friendly home so she can still keep in touch with them.

So far her Trade Me ad has garnered more than 100 responses, mostly from people offering to help walk, feed, or temporarily house TJ and Bella, but Girbin has her sights set on a forever home.

"I want them to get settled, and that will help me with what I'm going through, to know they're happy."

Anybody interested in homing TJ and Bella should visit the Trade Me ad