~:~:~:The Doggie Thread!!:~:~:~

Who Princess · November 2009

I have been thinking about Gracie and Trixie both, A LOT, and hoping for the best for both of them.

They have been making me remember one of my shelties, Buffy. When she started getting to be older she started to be a "bumpy" dog like Trixie. The vet would always check the new ones but didn't want to remove them unless absolutely necessary because of course going under anesthesia is risky for older dogs. Then she got a very big mass on her side and it was malignant so of course she had to have it removed. :(

When I took her in, the vet told me that they would have to shave her entire right side in order to do the surgery. Shelties have pretty heavy coats and Buffy's was even heavier than most. I told him that she was going to look ridiculous shaved on one side and furry on the other! So I asked if they could shave her all over.

So when I brought Buffy home, she had an 8-inch incision on her side. Pretty big for such a little dog. This is how she looked:

This is what her incision looked like:

The only good thing about having a shaved dog was that all my friends had been telling me that Buffy was overweight and I kept telling them, "It's not fat, it's FUR." They finally believed me! :roll:

Buffy lived for another year after this, until she developed an inoperable tumor on her pancreas. She was 13. She was a very sweet little dog who loved to play fetch with her daddy more than anything in the world.

dcfaithful · November 2009

norm wrote:

decides2dream wrote:

pandora wrote:

always good thoughts for Gracie and your family
prayers from me too

^^^
this.

*hugs to gracie*

me too!

I'll jump on this too, if that's okay. Plenty of good vibes till Rob. I've been sharing the story/pictures with my girlfriend who also was melted at the sight of Gracie. Jen, Myself, and our two pups are continually sending love your way! High hopes for when the news comes...

Lizard · November 2009

Good vibes to GRACIE and TRIX!!!

I remember ages and ages ago (

) our family's lab had to have an old-fashioned cone after he had eye surgery and neighbors thought we were being cruel to him!! Yeah--you're smart.

And Who Princess--your doggies are soooooooo cute!

dcfaithful · November 2009

PJ_ROCKS wrote:

I just could not bring myself to look at those pics, sorry!!!

imalive, I hope Gracie is doing good. Thinking nothing but good thoughts!

Trix has been doing good lately, although I am thinking that the vet didn't get all that nasty stuff out of her leg the last time. Two more "bumps" have showed up and she is back to licking at it. :(

Guess i will be talking to the vet this week.

If Trix will let me, I will try to post a pic of what I am talking about.

So sorry I didn't post this earlier. Same vibes for Gracie go out for Trix...hate to hear of all these poor dogs being under the weather. Get better ya'll, there are plenty more balls for you to fetch!!

Phantom Pain · November 2009

imalive wrote:

I can't let another day go by without thanking (in no particular order) HeartShapedBox, norm, pandora, Vedderfan10, Austicman, decides2dream, Lizard, dcfaithful, PJ_ROCKS, Phantom Pain, PJaddicted, whoprincess, mrs. smiley and SENROCK! for their continued support of me and Gracie.

Tomorrow, we go back to the vet to get the results from the "downstream lymph node." Please, please, please be clear :thumbup: !!! Gracie has been a good little patient but her puppy exhuberance isn't helping her stitches heal. As you can see, she's not crazy about her cone....in fact, it has rubbed a spot of fur off of her snout. You can also see her nasty scar (behind her back leg) in this pic .

When she's not in the cone, she needs the (calming) Gentle Leader. She don't like it either!!!

Thanks again to ALL you guys!! Think good thoughts!! For Trix, too!!

Awwww what a cutie !

No Problem..good luck with everything !

ItsOK921 · November 2009

HeartShapedBox wrote:

I wasn't sure exactly where to post this, and since I know that everyone who posts or visits this thread loves animals, and ESPECIALLY dogs, so I thought that this just had to be the place. I was browsing on photobucket earlier in the glitter section, and this picture caught my eye. It was a female dog in this small cell, she looked very scared and the place was disgusting, she had no food or water. She was surrounded in her own feces.

You will see that there are signs of abuse with these dogs. I couldn't make it through many pictures, and there are 1000 of them. I just broke down, and right after that I wrote to sent a message to photobucket and also an email to The Humane Society in Washington, I've also posted it on my facebook page. These are innocent dogs that just want nothing more than to love us, and they respond back with unconditional love.

It will break your hearts. I don't like to post negative things, but it has to start somewhere, these poor animals can't speak for themselves. Someone has to do it for them. I don't have a problem speaking up against the neglect and cruelty to animals.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and to look through some pretty horrific pictures. I have no idea where this place is, but this one of the reasons why we shouldn't get our pets at pet stores, because this is where most of them come from.

http://s158.photobucket.com/albums/t120/pughbert/

I looked through the pictures and it looks like this is simply an animal shelter...most likely a county animal shelter. Ive been to many and sadly this is the way they are, some better than others. I have always and will always adopt my dogs because I can not turn my back on this. Im guessing this person maybe worked at one and took photos for petfinder or their website and saves them because it is simply impossible to keep all these dogs at once. It's such a shame. Ive tried volunteering at animal shelters but unfortunately I just get too attached, but there are ways to help. There are some pretty horrific shelters out there, specifically in Kentucky, Ohio (where they auction dogs), North Carolina, and Virginia. Luckily, people are trying to stop the killing of innocent animals. There's a transportation site where they move dogs from state to state with the help of volunteers to no-kill shelters or foster homes. When I find it, I'llpost it in case anyone's interested.

PJaddicted · November 2009

Rob...still out here thinking about you and Gracie. Hoping and praying for good news. ((((Rob))))

Who Princess · November 2009

^^^Same here. Checking in to say I hope we get good news about Gracie today. :wave:

PJaddicted · November 2009

Any news about Gracie?

pandora · November 2009

We are thinking about Gracie
Love,
Charlie, Maddie, Lucy, Faith and Dottie

Wobbie · November 2009

I'll try not to ramble too much... I really appreciate everyone's well wishes and especially those from that group above ^^^^^

The cancer has spread to Gracie's lymph node

. I was floored by the news...I wasn't expecting it and neither was my vet. So far we've gotten the bad news that Gracie needed surgery....then the bad news that the tumor was cancer....and now this bad news.

I have a friend who had raved about a canine oncologist who had treated his dog when every other vet said there was nothing to be done. This oncologist comes to town 3 days a month. He also pratices in Anchorage and Palm Springs and lectures, writes and runs cancer research studies/trials. He's got every credential in the world. So, I called up to the clinic just to see how people managed their dogs with a guy who is only here 10% of the time. They kind of filled me in and told me Dr. Macy just happened to be in through tomorrow.

Gracie is scheduled for an ultra sound of her liver and spleen on Tuesday. After that, my vet figured we would give all the information so far to an oncologist. In Vegas, there is only one "resident" canine oncologist and Dr. Macy. So I thought for awhile and said "fuck it...this guy is here now....I need to at least see him and give him what we know now." So, my wife and I took Gracie up there yesterday afternoon. We talked for over an hour. Dr. Macy is great. We're still doing an ultrasound next week but Dr. Macy is more concered with her "sublumbar nodes." He says he can tell by feel that her liver and spleen are not enlarged. We decided on a regimen of chemotherapy, Metoclopramide, Leukeran, Prednisone, Palladia (new) and Pecid AC. I asked him "when do we start the Chemo?" and he said "how about 10 minutes?" So, it happened. Gracie came out 30 minutes later, put her paws on the counter and gave kisses to all the help

.

Canine chemo is one (short) IV per month and the meds are daily or every other day. Gracie is still a little bundle of energy and I don't expect her to change. That's my best hope. Dr. Macy gives her a "75-80%" chance of getting rid of this shit. The Leukeran in particular must be some aggressive stuff - we need to keep it in the fridge and handle it with gloves :shock: . My feeling is, this isn't the flu...it's fucking cancer. So, I'm all for the aggressive treatment. Today's her first day on drugs so we can hope that goes well. She has certainly been a great patient so far.

I'm sure everyone has feelings about this and our decision. The internet will drive you crazy with information. I've been trying to get an answer for everyone who asks "how did she get it?" and there really is no answer. No one knows. So, I've just accepted that. I mean, I understand what's going on but not really why. Just a bad fucking break

. We have a capable doctor who we (and Gracie

) instantly felt a connection to and we are going to do what he says. Luckily we can afford it. Some of you have said at times "don't be offended, but....." Believe me, nothing I have ever read here has been taken the wrong way by me. I know you guys care. I know you love dogs. I feel your love and so does Gracie. We're due for some good news....we're going to beat this shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

norm · November 2009

holy shit rob i'm devastated...i can't imagine what you're going through right now...sounds like you found a good doctor to help gracie get through this which i guess is the one good thing in all this

hang in there my friend and if you need anything, just let me know

decides2dream · November 2009

wow.

however, this...."That's my best hope. Dr. Macy gives her a "75-80%" chance of getting rid of this shit"....is quite positive, so try and focus on that. i am also glad to read you can afford it. it's horrible to think about but while reading all of 'this' that was exactly what i was thinking, wtf is it all going to cost?! it's so sad that it even has to be a consideration, and i am so glad that in your case, it isn't. tough decisions all the way round. personally, given how young gracie is, i think i too would probably opt for the same course of action as you. i hope gracie does well thru it all and wish her many, many, many years of great health ahead of her!!!

PearlOfAGirl · November 2009

I'll keep you and Gracie in my prayers...

pandora · November 2009

shit no- been thru this with our Brittany in 93
I hope Gracie can beat it- Docs have come a long way
My kids had a horrible time with Maggie-hindsight I would have handled things different
it sounds like common sense but protect/ prepare your children you may focus on Gracie and not enough on what it is doin to your children. I'm afraid that happened to us. We all will be keeping the good thoughts going here
for your family.

Wobbie · November 2009

decides2dream wrote:

i am also glad to read you can afford it. it's horrible to think about but while reading all of 'this' that was exactly what i was thinking, wtf is it all going to cost?! it's so sad that it even has to be a consideration, and i am so glad that in your case, it isn't.

Oh, it was/is. One thing I liked was, Dr. Macy put it right out there without us even asking. Yesterday was $700. He said $500-600 per month. Gracie at least deserves that. We are going to try to let her live; not force her to live (if that makes sense).

As I said though, right now she's the same as she ever was.

decides2dream · November 2009

imalive wrote:

decides2dream wrote:

i am also glad to read you can afford it. it's horrible to think about but while reading all of 'this' that was exactly what i was thinking, wtf is it all going to cost?! it's so sad that it even has to be a consideration, and i am so glad that in your case, it isn't.

Oh, it was/is. One thing I liked was, Dr. Macy put it right out there without us even asking. Yesterday was $700. He said $500-600 per month. Gracie at least deserves that. We are going to try to let her live; not force her to live (if that makes sense).
As I said though, right now she's the same as she ever was.

that makes total sense.....and i 100% agree.
good luck to you all!
*hugs!*

Wobbie · November 2009

pandora wrote:

shit no- been thru this with our Brittany in 93
I hope Gracie can beat it- Docs have come a long way
My kids had a horrible time with Maggie-hindsight I would have handled things different
it sounds like common sense but protect/ prepare your children you may focus on Gracie and not enough on what it is doin to your children. I'm afraid that happened to us. We all will be keeping the good thoughts going here
for your family.

Gracie IS our (only) child....another part of the $$$ rationalization....no car insurance, no college fund, no cell phone bills, etc. I'm already beating myself up a little...why didn't we aspirate in August? But Dr. Macy says these tumors grow amazingly (maddeningly) fast. Human breast cancer tumors can double in size in 169 days, dog tumors in 10(?) days, cat tumors in 12 hours! Thanks, Pandora.

pandora · November 2009

Oh I saw the little fireman there and assumed
I didn't know that about pet tumors- Maggie's was brain/ inner ear inoperable
I'm glad you can give Gracie the care she needs and that you have a good Doctor
its a sad sad situation I know- it was all encompassing for me in 93

Who Princess · November 2009

I'm so sorry that Gracie is going through this, and putting all of you through it as well. The fact that you've found a vet you have trust in is an excellent sign to me and that he has laid everything out for you and given her excellent chances makes me feel very positive. Gracie is young and healthy. She has a loving family who will do what's best for her. All of this sounds like things are headed in the right direction.

I would not even take the time to wonder what caused her cancer. I think it's natural to be curious but some things are just beyond our knowing. Of the 8 dogs who have owned us over the years, there was one named Tess that we loved the best. I know I shouldn't say that; a friend used to tell me "Mothers aren't supposed to have favorites." But if you knew Tess and all the things that made her so special you'd know why. We adopted Tess when she was about a year and a half old and promptly had her spayed, which usually prevents dogs from having breast cancer. When she was 11 she developed a rare, aggressive form of breast cancer that my vet had never seen before. It spread to her lymph nodes, her lungs, and her brain and she died less than 3 weeks after we first found the lumps. I will forever wonder why it happened to Tess, the sweetest and smartest of dogs, who attracted attention everywhere we took her and charmed everyone. Even my vet said that he had cared for thousands of dogs but he had never known a dog like Tess.

Cancer sucks! :evil:

But we are all with you and Gracie and I know she's going to get through this. :thumbup:

~:~:~:The Doggie Thread!!:~:~:~

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