Second pet to go this year...
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 2:45 pm
Stupid dog.
Earlier this year we had to put the cat down due to cancer in her nasal passages. About the same time, the ridgeback/whippet mix had started losing some weight, and wasn't posturing properly to eliminate completely. She got a UTI, so we knocked that down, but since she still wasn't posturing properly (bladder pain?), we ran another course of antibiotics, along with some pain meds and anti-inflammatories to help knock things out completely. We were thinking it was complications from arthritis, since the doc saw some stuff on her x-ray along her spine that could explain some rear leg neurologic effects. Got better for a while, but after a month she still appeared painful, so we went with a different antibiotic in case the bladder infection had traveled to her kidneys, since one appeared larger on x-ray.
Got better again for a bit, and she was able to maintain weight, but then the posturing got worse and some of the neurologic effects came back (knuckling under rear paws when squatting to pee). Another x-ray, and we finally got a definitive answer: osteosarcoma in the hip bone and head of the femur. Catch that shit early enough in a long bone, away from the torso, and you can take the limb and get the cancer out. In the hip? Nothing we can do, except bring her back home and let the kids love on her one more night. She got all the good drugs at the vet before they left, and we kept her full of pain meds at home for the last night so she was comfortable. Today on my lunch break I have to go and give the best car-ride dog I've ever met her last ride.
Stupid dog.
Earlier this year we had to put the cat down due to cancer in her nasal passages. About the same time, the ridgeback/whippet mix had started losing some weight, and wasn't posturing properly to eliminate completely. She got a UTI, so we knocked that down, but since she still wasn't posturing properly (bladder pain?), we ran another course of antibiotics, along with some pain meds and anti-inflammatories to help knock things out completely. We were thinking it was complications from arthritis, since the doc saw some stuff on her x-ray along her spine that could explain some rear leg neurologic effects. Got better for a while, but after a month she still appeared painful, so we went with a different antibiotic in case the bladder infection had traveled to her kidneys, since one appeared larger on x-ray.
Got better again for a bit, and she was able to maintain weight, but then the posturing got worse and some of the neurologic effects came back (knuckling under rear paws when squatting to pee). Another x-ray, and we finally got a definitive answer: osteosarcoma in the hip bone and head of the femur. Catch that shit early enough in a long bone, away from the torso, and you can take the limb and get the cancer out. In the hip? Nothing we can do, except bring her back home and let the kids love on her one more night. She got all the good drugs at the vet before they left, and we kept her full of pain meds at home for the last night so she was comfortable. Today on my lunch break I have to go and give the best car-ride dog I've ever met her last ride.
Stupid dog.