Wednesday, April 30, 2014

A Big M Update

In January my Big M was diagnosed with cancer, a rare and aggressive form of canine cancer. Thankfully, it's my practice to routinely have any lumps that come up on my dogs removed completely, and then tested, just in case. I don't wait. I don't test first and then decide what to do later. If there's a lump, it comes off, end of story. In this instance, that probably saved Big M's life, and my sanity.

Yesterday was Big M's fifth chemotherapy treatment, he has one more. Every third Tuesday I take him down to the Bluepearl Georgia Veterinary Specialist office for his treatment. Should you live in Georgia and need someone to save your dog, or cat, they're the people. They took good care of my Old Lady when she needed knee replacement surgery several years ago and they've taken good care of my Big M. It is extremely comical though to see a 75 lb boxer, a solid and very intimidating looking dog if I"m being honest, shake like a rag doll and hide behind my legs and cry. He's such a baby. :)

He has one more treatment and then we do another round of ultrasounds and xrays to make sure that in the four months that we've been doing the chemotherapy no other masses have come up. I know in my heart that they will be clear. He has escaped this round.

I am very concerned though about the next one.

We adopted him through a rescue group and his history is sketchy, we know that. We know that rescuing animals means you don't really know how old they are. What their health history is. What they've been subjected to. We do know that Big M had a rough past and he's always been wary of strange men. We know he was approx 2 or 3 years old when we got him, but vets tend to judge age by the health of a dogs teeth and Big M's teeth are a mess from some part of his dark past that involved, most likely, being chained, and chewing on that chain trying to free himself.

Even if the two year old estimate is accurate, which is the one we choose to go with, we've had him for four years which means he's at least six, if not seven or a little older.

A boxer's standard life expectancy is 8-10 years.

My Old Lady died just before she made it to 12 and she was adopted as a puppy by a family I knew. From a registered and safe breeder, always well taken care of. She came to me because the family had a third baby and, blah, blah, blah, they didn't have time. As a volunteer with a rescue group, and as a mom with small babies, I hate that excuse. But, it did give me my Old Lady.

I worry so much about Big M now because he didn't have good care as a puppy. He wasn't well taken care of and we just don't know what may come from that. He's living the good life now, that's for sure. But given how short boxers lives tend to be, and that we've already had one escape. I worry about the next one and how much time we will have.

(Forgive the Clemson onzie, we're a Tennessee house, but, if it's clean, and it fits, it gets worn! lol)

1 comment:

  1. You are such a wonderful doggie mommy (and regular mommy!) Your sweet Boxer is adorable and I hope he recovers fully soon!

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