Let’s lighten the mood around here. You can put a smile on your face by checking out our Forums, or you can visit the Morris Animal Foundation’s interactive compilation of canine cancer research.
Watch a video with oncologists from Colorado State and Cornell University, answering questions about canine cancer, prevention and treatments.
Questions have been submitted from owners whose dogs are suffering from cancer, animal lovers, as well as dog breeders, boarding kennel managers and others. Links are provided to Cornell’s “Pet Owner’s Guide to Cancer” and other cancer educational sites.
Never give up, there is hope, people!
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Damn this nasty disease.It just took Lalla. OK, so it’s actually been a couple days now. But I’ve just felt speechless about losing my girlfriend.
One day she’s running on the beach and the next she’s gone. That’s the worst thing about cancer in dogs. These things happen. As much as we can try to learn to cope with cancer… As much as we try to prepare for the inevitable… It will never be enough.
The last few days have brought an unusual amount of sadness into our lives, with the passing of several beautiful tripawds that we have come to know and love. I’m doing my best to cope, but it’s hard.
Today, this came in through the Bone Cancer Dogs mailing list. We hope it helps everyone feel just a little better.
Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog’s owner, his wife, and their little boy were all very attached to Belker and they were hoping for a miracle.
I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family there were no miracles left for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.
As we made arrangements, the owners told me they thought it would be good for the four-year-old boy to observe the procedure. They felt he could learn something from the experience.
As Belker’s family surrounded him, the little boy seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away. The little boy seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any difficulty or confusion.
We sat together for a while after Belker’s death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.
The little boy, who had been listening quietly, piped up, “I know why.”
Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me - I’d never heard a more comforting explanation.
He said, “Everybody is born so that they can learn how to live a good life - like loving everybody and being nice, right?”
The four-year-old continued, “Well, animals already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.”
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My people keep promising to catch up on all the movies of my latest adventures, but we’ve just been too busy enjoying life to the fullest. Us tripawds must do that!
We will have a movie of the great fun I had visiting and playing with Eisen, my new three-legged friend in Colorado. Meanwhile, here are some photos from our six-legged play date …
As if we didn’t love him enough already, now we can add this to Obama’s resume: Three Legged Dog Lover and Anti-Puppy Mill Advocate!
Visit “A Rare Breed of Love,” and learn more about Baby, an abused puppy mill survivor and “national spokesdog” raising awareness about cruelty in the dog breeding industry.
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Ever since my doctor told me I had a partial ACL tear, my people have been keeping me relatively confined. Or at least trying to! We’re only going on leashed walks, per doctor’s orders. Bummer.
But another home treatment that seems to be helping with my knee pain is hot and cold therapy using my Bella’s Hot/Cold Pain Relief Pack.
We’ve written about this great pet pain relief product before, and even posted a demonstration video. But now my people have discovered how to keep the pack in position on my knee, even if I move around.
I can’t believe what a lucky dawg I am. I got to meet the one and only Calpurnia, the three legged sled dog.
If there was ever a dog that demonstrates how we Tripawds can live a great life, she can. Calpurnia is tough as nails, headstrong and rambunctious, and completely defies her age (12 years old!). We met up recently, and took a walk at the Colorado Trail, on Kenosha Pass, about 100 miles west of Denver. Well, Cali ran. At 10,000 feet above sea level, I tried to run with her, but that girl just kept flying down that trail ahead of me. My Mom couldn’t run fast enough to film her the whole time! She is simply amazing.
Calpurnia and her people, Dave and TC, are active sled dog racers that live outside of Denver. They have a big team made up of rescue dogs — all of them! — and go around the snowy Rocky Mountains, mushing and racing and having a ball all winter long. Contrary to what some people have said about sled dog racing, this sport is not mean to the dogs, or inhumane. Sled dog people absolutely love their canine team members, as you can see by how much that Dave and TC have done for Cali.
I can’t wait for fall, because we are going to meet up with Calpurnia and her team, and watch them practice for winter competition. Mushing sure looks like fun, but I think I’ll sit on the sidelines with my humans and let the real snow dogs do all the work!
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Two weeks ago as I was leaving New Mexico, my pawrents and I started traveling north to meet my Tripawd friend Daisy. We’d never met in person, but we were being treated by the same oncologist in Santa Fe. We had already missed meeting each other at the clinic by one day, so now we were finally going to get to play.
Sadly, we crossed paths one more time, but still didn’t get to meet. At the exact time were traveling northbound toward Antonito, where we would meet up with Daisy in a couple of days, Daisy and her parents were traveling south, on the same road. Only it was a very sad trip for them. See, the cancer had recently gotten the best of Daisy, and her health was rapidly deteriorating. Her Mom, LeeAnn, had to make the difficult decision to help Daisy across the rainbow bridge. She and Daisy were driving to the vet’s office at the same time, on the same road, that we were on.
Let’s lighten the mood around here. You can put a smile on your face by checking out our Forums, or you can visit the Morris Animal Foundation’s interactive compilation of canine cancer research.
