Waiting on the vet's office to open

[canesisters]

@journey11, I am sorry to hear what's going on at your place. Somethings are just tougher than others to figure what's the right thing to do and when. Good luck with the carpet -- and all the additional cleaning.

I hope your furry family member continues to beat the odds.

Red, you have a wonderful way of saying JUST the right thing.

 

[NwMtGardener]

Ugh, that sucks. Your family (2 & 4 legged) is in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[bobm]

I woke up this morning and found my house looks like a murder scene!

My dog has burst one of her skin cancer tumors and it has bled like crazy ALL over the carpet in every room downstairs. She was messing with it a lot, so I bought a Comfy Cone and put it on her and she somehow got around the cone and got to it anyway. The spot has stopped bleeding, for now. I have some blood-stop powder on hand if I need it.

If I had known these spots would trouble her so much (she can't quit licking at them), I would have had them removed right away. As it was, the vet and I were both hesitant to put her through a 3rd surgery since they just keep coming back. She's 13 and is feeling so good for her age otherwise, which makes this so much more upsetting to me. If I'd known it was going to do this, I would have had the surgery done when I first spotted the small lesions before they'd grown. Now she is going to have to have surgery anyway. She's outlived the life expectancy for this aggressive cancer by a year and a half longer than they told me she'd have. I am so thankful for that.

I'm going to have to burn this carpet. There's no salvaging it.



ETA: We've got an appt for 10:40.

Journey11... I am so sorry to hear of the cancer problem with your dog. I know that what I am about to post is not what you or anyone else ( even me ) want to hear ... however.... I have worked at a University Veterinary Pathology Dept. and I performed hundreds of necropsies on dogs, cats as well as other animals with recurring cancer after multiple surgeries and I would say that it would be much kinder for your 13 year old dog to have her go to sleep as she is nearing the end of her lifetime in any event and spare her the pain she is going through as evidenced by her blood everywhere . So sorry .

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

So sad for her and for you. Poor sweetie. I'm sure she was beside herself when all this was happening when you were asleep.

Here's hoping for some better news in a short while....

 

[catjac1975]

So sorry about your dog. But, is it just me? Should you not be very careful handling these cancerous tumor cells? Seeing that they really do not know how one gets cancer. I am not implying that it is contagious but, live cancer cells?

 

[journey11]

So sorry about your dog. But, is it just me? Should you not be very careful handling these cancerous tumor cells? Seeing that they really do not know how one gets cancer. I am not implying that it is contagious but, live cancer cells?

Eek, that's a creepy thought. As far as I know, it's not anything contagious. I'd figure the dog genetics wouldn't be compatible with ours anyway.

Thanks for your kind words, @bobm , She's not in pain really, other than how the spot annoys her. If it hurts, it isn't very much. Even at 13, she barely has any arthritis (her health has greatly improved in general since I switched her to a rice-based food years ago.) I've considered the possibility that she may one day need put to sleep at some point if her quality of life degrades badly enough with age, but for now she is still agile and mobile, plays a little (naps a lot, lol), takes short walks, goes to potty outdoors and has a healthy appetite. She's partly deaf, but her eyesight is good. These tumors are in the dermal layer. One she removed herself by nibbling at it! It healed over nicely. She may have the version of this cancer (hemangioma sarcoma) that only affects the skin. There is a large percentage that get it internally instead and die when the tumor bursts and clots in the brain, heart, kidneys, etc. If that were to happen, the vet said it would be a sudden and quick death. She's already survived with it by twice as long as the life expectancy for the latter to happen (3 years now.)

The vet still agrees that we ought not put her through surgery again. She said there is not enough blood to the tumor to worry about bleeding to death and that I could apply a little flour or blood-stop powder to staunch the bleeding if it did it again. She gave me prednisone with the possibility it may shrink it, an antibacterial wash and a numbing/antibacterial powdered medicine with orders to apply twice daily. I'm going to put the Comfy Cone back on her as I later recalled that I had taken the stays out of it so that it was easy to fold over when she wanted to eat. They were supposed to give it extra support, so maybe I could have avoided the mess in the first place. :/

 

[majorcatfish]

my heart goes out to your 4 legged best friend and your family

 

[897tgigvib]

I'm real sorry what's going on. I never know the right thing to say. Hang in there and try to keep things together.

 

[Jared77]

Just saw this.....I'm so sorry.

Another thought is to stuff peanut butter in a rubber toy like a Kong or another durable toy. Freeze it overnight and then give it to her.

The frozen peanut butter will give her something to focus on and keep her busy for quite a while. Works like a charm. We buy value peanut butter and always try to keep one on hand just in case.

 

[journey11]

Great idea, @Jared77 ! And nutritious too. She ate her dinner tonight and has been doing much better. She'll get a bath tomorrow to clean her up (day was too stressful to bother with it today) and then I'll start the pills and stuff they gave me to heal it up.

I think I'm going to go after the spots on the carpet with the big wet/dry vac. It has really good suction. Then I'll see if I can get the rest out with the peroxide and stuff. Forgot to pick it up when I was out today, but I'll have DH bring me home a few bottles tomorrow.