It was a Saturday night, and my dog Luna came up to me on the couch, as she often does. She lay down next to me and looked up at me. I reached out to pet her, and she rolled onto her back, revealing her belly. I was petting her warm, soft belly when my fingers suddenly discovered two small lumps on either side of one of her nipples.
Monday morning I called the vet and got an appointment the next day. Luna happily followed me down to the vet and jumped up on the table happily. The vet felt her thoroughly and said the words that I will never forget: It's not so good, it's probably breast cancer.
I almost couldn't breathe and struggled to keep my thoughts and emotions calm. I held back several tears as I looked at my beloved dog. The vet explained the different options and we made an appointment for surgery 3 days later.
It was 3 very long days, and when I dropped her off at the vet I cried all the way home.
At the vet they had an intern this week and she had met Luna on Tuesday. She had apparently fallen for her a little, and had been assigned to be with Luna before and after the operation. On Tuesday, the intern had been very surprised that Luna could be so calm. That she had just laid down on the vet's floor while we talked. I told her that Luna was a study dog and therefore used to staying still. The intern then had to have an explanation of what a study dog was like.
When I picked her up in the afternoon, the vet explained to me the details of the surgery, they had found one more lump, and it had taken a little longer than expected.
I asked the intern how it had gone with taking care of Luna, and she said that it had gone really well at first, but then she became a little restless and impatient. The intern had remembered that Luna was a reading dog and had sat down on the floor and read BT aloud to her.
It turned out that they had to remove 3 divots and a little extra on each side to be on the safe side. This means that Luna has a pretty long scar on her stomach and she is quite thin on that side.
The nodules were sent to Germany and the result was “malignant stage 1”, that was expected but still a stomach bug. That is not exactly what you expect with an otherwise healthy 4 year old dog. Unfortunately, the subsequent X-ray of the lungs showed that there were white spots where there should be black.
So now we all enjoy our days a little more than usual, because we don't know when they will end...
Behind the scenes of this week's blogger
Ea has 3 female dogs, Honey, 11 years old, Luna, 2 years old and Maggie, 9 weeks old. Her oldest dog is a dachshund mix that she brought home from her time in Greenland. The other two are cocker mixes with duracell batteries. Ea trains Nose Work with all her dogs, it is a fantastic activity/sport. Luna is environmentally trained and socially trained from an early age, as she will hopefully one day be used as a pedagogical "tool".
It was a Saturday night.
It was a Saturday night, and my dog Luna came up to me on the couch, as she often does. She lay down next to me and looked up at me. I reached out to pet her, and she rolled onto her back, revealing her belly. I was petting her warm, soft belly when my fingers suddenly discovered two small lumps on either side of one of her nipples.
Monday morning I called the vet and got an appointment the next day. Luna happily followed me down to the vet and jumped up on the table happily. The vet felt her thoroughly and said the words that I will never forget: It's not so good, it's probably breast cancer.
I almost couldn't breathe and struggled to keep my thoughts and emotions calm. I held back several tears as I looked at my beloved dog. The vet explained the different options and we made an appointment for surgery 3 days later.
It was 3 very long days, and when I dropped her off at the vet I cried all the way home.
At the vet they had an intern this week and she had met Luna on Tuesday. She had apparently fallen for her a little, and had been assigned to be with Luna before and after the operation. On Tuesday, the intern had been very surprised that Luna could be so calm. That she had just laid down on the vet's floor while we talked. I told her that Luna was a study dog and therefore used to staying still. The intern then had to have an explanation of what a study dog was like.
When I picked her up in the afternoon, the vet explained to me the details of the surgery, they had found one more lump, and it had taken a little longer than expected.
I asked the intern how it had gone with taking care of Luna, and she said that it had gone really well at first, but then she became a little restless and impatient. The intern had remembered that Luna was a reading dog and had sat down on the floor and read BT aloud to her.
It turned out that they had to remove 3 divots and a little extra on each side to be on the safe side. This means that Luna has a pretty long scar on her stomach and she is quite thin on that side.
The nodules were sent to Germany and the result was “malignant stage 1”, that was expected but still a stomach bug. That is not exactly what you expect with an otherwise healthy 4 year old dog. Unfortunately, the subsequent X-ray of the lungs showed that there were white spots where there should be black.
So now we all enjoy our days a little more than usual, because we don't know when they will end...
Behind the scenes of this week's blogger
Ea has 3 female dogs, Honey, 11 years old, Luna, 2 years old and Maggie, 9 weeks old. Her oldest dog is a dachshund mix that she brought home from her time in Greenland. The other two are cocker mixes with duracell batteries. Ea trains Nose Work with all her dogs, it is a fantastic activity/sport. Luna is environmentally trained and socially trained from an early age, as she will hopefully one day be used as a pedagogical "tool".