Ginger's owner
What a great dog and a heart warming story. You and I are on the same page... "Every Day is a Gift". That's how we felt about Ginger and we used a holistic, natural approach to her health too. The vets tried to give us a number too, but we changed it to a much bigger one. Ginger stayed with us until her old age and her own time, without cancer. We used acupuncture and Reiki, supplements and detox, raw diet, etc. I wish you all the best too. Let me know if I can help. We're all here for you. ~Rosemary
Maxwell's owner
Its been a while since I was on here but wanted to keep posting on Maxwells story for people who have dogs who have been diagnosed with Adenocarcinoma.
Maxwell has done wonderful since he had the surgery in 06/11. No problems with incontinence or anything else. He went in for a check up in December and got a clean bill of health. On 01/30/12 I noticed he was not keeping himself clean so cleaned him up with baby wipes and felt a hard round lump. We took him to the vet on 02/01/12 and our vet found a lump the size of a tangerine. She took a sample and it is a malignant tumor. The aggressiveness of the tumor has us really worried.
We are having bloodwork, chest xrays and an ultrasound done on Monday.
Due to the size of the tumor and the need to excise at least 2 centimeters surgery may not be an option. For now we are just trying to determine if it has spread. No prognosis has been given to us yet. Will post again after the tests have been done.
Bailey's owner
Hi Ashley - thanks for the note. I'm devastated to hear about Sam, but know that you all made the right decision for Sam, and selflessly made the hardest decision to free him of his pain. I know he was the best boy - because I know he was so much like Bailey! If you can, please send me your parent's address (shabr at hotmail dot com) - I'd like to send them a card. I'm so very sorry for your loss. We're thinking of you all, and I'm sure that Bailey and Sam are romping together at the Rainbow Bridge, happy, healthy and whole again.
Bailey's owner
Hello to you and your handsome Jack. So sorry to hear of the OS diagnosis, and heartbroken to see another Ridgeback added to the list of OSA dogs.
If you're interested in any information on supplements, or home cooked diet, or just support in general, please feel free to send us a note or email - we did many of these things with our Bailey bug during his cancer battle. We got 7.5 months with amp, chemo, and lots of other natural / holistic based approaches. Big ridgie hugs to your boy.
Jack's owner
Thanks for your response. We are reluctant to go the amp route at this stage as he has already been through so much with the break to the leg. The vet also thinks that the cancer has already spread, we'll confirm this with him shortly. Any advice on diet and approaches to make him comfortable would be appreciated.
Angel Loving's owner
Angel went to the Rainbow Bridge on July 27th, 2011, after the 2 year battle of lymphoma. I so miss my little girl, but I am grateful for the people at the Magic Bullet Fund for helping me with her expenses. Without them I would not have had the extra time I got to spend with my Angel. I love you Angel and miss you so much every day. Love, mommy.
Barzini's owner
Dear Barzini, it has been a year since you left me. I thank you for all the joy you brought me every minute of every day. You were a special gift to me and I still can't believe you are gone. I wear you on my wrist every day, keep in my heart and soul and some day we will all be together again. I know you are happy and are watching over us. I love you and miss you sweetheart. I just noticed I added your profile to this website on Valentine's day, so fitting for you and I.
Love you mommy
Ginger's owner
Hi Ashley, I'm in Oregon too (Portland). Sorry to see your post about Sam. How is he today? What are your options? Please keep us posted and ask questions. We're here for you. ~Rosemary
Sam's owner
Hello Stacey,
This is Ashley,Rick & tonya`s daughter that own sam (bailey`s brother)!
We are so very sad,it`s hard to even pull it together and talk right now.I know you talked to Tonya the other day,and i wanted to let you know sam has progressed and can not move anymore,so we don`t have time to take him to OSU.
This is the hardest decision ever but we have decided its time to out Sam down- tonight at 4pm from Osteosarcoma cancer. :o( I wanted to thank you for all your support and your knowledge! Thought you should know sam with be in heaven with bailey where they can run and play together once again!
Bailey's owner
So sorry to hear about your loss!! He sounds like he was such a sweet boy! We just started our battle with HSA in December (found out on my birthday-worst birthday ever) and are hoping that we are able to tamper it down and let Bailey have as normal of a life as possible and lengthen the time between tumors. Thank you for sharing his story! Warm fuzzies!
Bailey's owner
So sorry for your loss :( Even though we are given an opportunity to fight for Bailey, and in the public eye and when I'm around my husband and most definitely when I'm around the furbabies I put up a brave front, when I'm alone I still wallow and wail and kick myself for not pushing sooner to have an answer to her spot. Thank you for posting the information you received from the lab--it's wonderful to have extra info! I'm a big time researcher, so I'm collecting all possible information and consulting with our vet to make as educated and solid decisions as possible. I, like you, want to do more to raise awareness of cancer in canines! My head spins with everything going on in life right now...it is THE craziest time I've worked through in the last 5 years...but all I can keep thinking of is how we're going to fight for Bailey. Thanks, again, for sharing Chance's story! Talk soon!
Isabella's owner
Update 1/28: Got the results and it is Spindle Cell Sarcoma. She had surgery to remove several lumps. 2 were benign but the very fast growing one was that.
Bailey's owner
So sorry for your loss :( Your boy knew how much you loved him! I feel your pain (so much) and also your agony over not second-guessing the vet. We're in the same boat (as you read). One of our friends does Reiki, and we've talked about having her come do a few sessions with Bailey. Will definitely have her come now! What is sad, too, is that because there's little to no testing available (other than regular ultrasounds, which are not 100%) and there's little awareness of it until it affects your baby. I will definitely be more outspoken on cancer, especially hemangiosarcoma. Thank you for sharing McClay's story and your experience! Big hugs to McCara!
Bailey's owner
Bailey's Battle: Week 6
Thanks for the support everyone! It took 2 weeks for Bailey's eating habits to get back to normal (just in time for another chemo treatment next Thursday, ha ha). The vet agreed that the most important thing is for her to EAT, so we tried anything and everything! She turned her nose up at every possible thing we gave her for 3 days :( And she didn't trust her bowl (after that nasty Tylan was in there). However, we're happy to report that she's back to her food-motivated, sneaky sniffer self!
She had a skin infection from her first surgery (she has such sensitive skin), so now we're battling hyperpigmentation. I asked the vet last week if it was okay, and she said it was healing, though I've never seen her skin so pigmented before while it was healing!! It looks like someone took charcoal to her belly (a child, because there's no rhyme or reason to the patterns). I've emailed a photo in the to vet to make sure she's okay and we're not dealing with something else. I feel as though it could be a reaction to the chemo, too, as I know some people have hyperpigmentation reactions on their trunks, which are increased when they scratch at them.
Have any of you experienced that with chemo?
Keegan
Bailey's owner
Vet said it looked normal for her healing process--no more sign of infection, and some dogs never lose the pigmentation :/ which I suppose we can handle if she never loses all of it-as long as it's not a health concern we're fine.
McClay's owner
Keep positive for Bailey and I'll be sure to send healing thoughts her way. Are you still having a hard time getting Bailey to eat? Our vet suggested Duck and Tripe, stinky stinky stinky, the stinkier the better. If you don't feel comfortable giving cooked duck, give her the duck fat over her food, might help. Towards the end the only thing I could get McClay to eat was dehydrated liver and dehydrated tripe, he would eat treats but wouldn't eat food. We come to realize is it was becasue it was our approach, we were thinking please eat, please eat, so he could sense that, with treats I didn't care if he ate them or not, which in turn was the only thing he did eat. Our approach has a lot to do with it. Big hugs to you and your husband, this stupid cancer is a hard one but have faith and keep fighting, she very lucky that you're fighting for her.
McClay's owner
I have been meaning to write for last little while but it’s been hard coming back to this site, but I did wanted to say Thank you for sharing your story. Reading your story is what gave us the will and hope to fight for our boy, McClay, to do whatever means necessary to make sure he lived as long as he could and have a good quality of life. Every vet we came across told us to euthanize him, all but one, he was hopeful because if it was his dog he would fight like us, he found us the best possible surgeon and we drove 3 ½ hours during Christmas just so McClay could get the surgery to remove the 7 ½ tumor on his liver that had ruptured and was causing internal bleeding. Sadly, two hours after a successful surgery and removing two lobes of his liver and spleen as a precaution, McClay passed away from a blood clot to the brain. There was nothing they could do the revive him as he was brain dead. We seen a naturopathic vet who had him on Chinese herbs and after surgery we were planning on doing more Reiki, acupuncture, ozone treatment, whatever we needed to do, we were willing to fight the fight. From the moment I found out that my boy had cancer, I kept telling him every day that we were going to fight, we fought so much for him and he fought back, the blood clot was completely out of everyone’s control.
thumper's owner
well today thumper hasn't been doing good at all ,, he hasn't ate in 4 day's , for the past two days he hasn't drank any water ,, all i can do is love on him as much as i can and pray 2 god he'll go peacefully in his sleep .. Jan 18th 2012.
Ginger's owner
Thanks for sharing your success and concerns with us. You've done well so far! There is much you can do to promote good health and wellness to help stave off your concerns of spread. You have treated the cancer, now treat the body with good nutrition, detox and energy work. They all add to the success. I see you already use some good supplements. Let us know if you have any questions. We're here to help. ~Rosemary
Chance Levi Ervin's owner
I am sorry to hear about your loss, we loss our Chance to Hemangiosarcoma. Our Chance had blood work done 2 weeks before he passed on and this blood work was good, at least nothing indicating he had cancer or blood clotting issues (which is a sign of hemangiosarcoma) . I spoke with several cancer research centers when Chance passed they are working on diagn., testing for this cancer, when it is on the skin it is more easily detectable, but it is so sneeky and aggressive. Ultrasound showed Chances cancer was hiding behind his kidneys and had ruptured , we found it to late. It is still very hard for me I keep going over the night before he passed when all he wanted me to do was hold him and I still cry, but I can just hope that he knew how much he was loved. Best of luck to you and your family.
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