Tankie Holstein Spires

Hello everyone!  I am the doggie mom of two 11-year old pups, and it’s the bigger one who got cancer this summer, two lumps, soft-tissue sarcomas, on his left front leg.  We are one month out from his front leg amputation, and scheduled for chemo – or a check-up and then chemo if everything is ok – on September 11th.  Apparently the cancer is the aggressive kind, so even though the vets have found no trace of it, we need the chemo.  (There may be some there that our technology can’t detect.)  I’ve already gotten lots of helpful advice surfing this site, and have chatted with Jerry and Paula who reassured me that what I’m going through is normal.  My struggles are with:

eating (he’ll only eat what he wants: roast chicken, scrambled eggs, …),

peeing (he is drinking, thank heaven!, but peeing is a rarity),

pooping — really can’t do it anymore, so he just lies there & it comes out.  Today outside I helped him, got it all over both of us (it was runny because of his varied diet), had to give him a sponge bath because I’m not going to ask him to stand in the tub.

bathing (see above) – he’s really dirty since he falls down so much.

him allowing me to shove a pill down his throat every 12 hours — he used to let me do this.  Both of my dogs are too smart for the cheese ball thing, it just doesn’t work, so this has been my method.  Seems medieval, but they usually let me do it and that’s that.  These past few days, Tank’s jaw is clamped shut.  I’m never in danger, it’s just a struggle to get him to accept the pill.

& just plain walking.  He was able to for a bit, but now his back legs collapse a lot.  He has figured out how to hop, he is all right lying down (moving to a “down” position) as long as he’s on carpet or dirt.

I was going to make an appointment with a veterinary physical therapist & forgot – I’m a teacher, grades are due, I was observed on Friday (that’s a huge deal, your only chance to ensure you get a good bonus at the end of the year), and on top of everything Friday evening I caught the cold that’s going around and have been down for the count for three days, sleeping and barely tending to Tank’s needs.

SO, feeling overwhelmed.  He’s on rimadyl, 100mgs, I divide the pills & give them once every 12 hours with food.  They seem to help, and I think it’s going better now that I’ve divided them.  I’ve bought him a bark bed, which he’s not usually on, he prefers to stretch out on the carpet, but that’s okay, he has used it and I know he will in the future.  I also bought him boots and socks, put them on today and he refused to budge.  He lets me put them on but then won’t get up. I have a harness coming in the mail.  In the meantime he refuses the makeshift grocery bag harness I have used – hops away from it, slips out of it,… so there’s no way for me to help him pee.  Don’t know if I need feedback, unless you’ve been through some of this and have suggestions, mostly just need sympathy! I will make an appt with the therapist in Nashville so we get help where rehab is concerned.  Hopefully on the same day as our other appointment, since it’s a 2 hr trip to get there.  My doctors (oncologist & surgeon) are at the Nashville Vet Specialists clinic, they are all wonderful.

Read this for important information!

Welcome to Tripawds. Please read on for important tips. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging. Don’t miss our helpful WordPress tutorial videos if you need help getting started with your new Tripawds blog.

PLEASE NOTE:

Tripawds Blogs shall NOT be used for commercial OR fundraising purposes.

The free Tripawds Blogs platform shall not be used by an commercial entity. Any blog created by a veterinary clinic, product manufacturer or any other commercial endeavor will be deleted and all users removed without warning. Please contact Tripawds regarding guest article submission opportunities.

Direct appeals for financial assistance to help cover care expenses will be deleted without notice. Everypawdy in the Tripawds community faces their own share of high expenses related to surgery, recovery and care. Veterinary financial aid resources can be found in the Tripawds News blog. Please see the Tripawds Fundraising Appeals Policy for more information. Thank you for your understanding.

Do not reply to this post!

Please publish a new post (or edit this one) to share your story. The Tripawds community is only notified of new blog posts in the Recent Posts widgets found throughout the News blog and discussion forum pages. Members will not be notified of any comments made on this default first post. You can also choose to edit or delete your sample page.

• See the Help videos in your blog dashboard or post in the Tech Support forum with any questions!

Publish a blog post or your site may be deleted!

Please be sure to publish at least one blog post to let us know you that you may use your blog. NOTE: Failure to do so may result in your site being deleted. If you upload photos to your Media Library, but fail to publish a post, we’ll never know they are there and they may be gone forever!

Another way to ensure your site does not get deleted, is to upgrade it with a Tripawds Supporter subscription.

By default your site will be indexed so Tripawds members will be notified of your update in the Recent Posts lists throughout this community. If you change your Privacy settings to discourage search engines, your posts will not be indexed! 

To limit the amount of spam you receive, any first comment a reader makes on your blog will require moderation. Be sure to “Spam” any inappropriate comments, and approve those from your readers so their future comments appear immediately. You can change your comment options from the Settings -> Discussion tab in your dashboard.

Thank you for sharing your story, and happy blogging!