It is with overwhelming sadness that I share the loss of my sweet angel
Pumpkin, a Stumpy Tail Australian Cattle Dog. She was diagnosed with splenic HSA on June 6, 2008, following a splenectomy and a biopsy. We did 12 months of oral metronomic therapy (cytoxan and deramaxx), coupled with a home-cooked, very-low carb diet (Pumpkin gorged shamelessly on USDA Prime organic filet mignon :-)).

Following July 2009, I only continued the diet, with fish oil and yuan bayaiyo supplements. She had zero side effects
with the metronomic and was her usual, energetic cattle dog self throughout, until collapsing three days ago (3/10/2010) and being taken to the ICU...

Pumpkin suddenly collapsed overnight and could barely stand on her feet and could not walk. Strangely, her gums were nice and pink and she was responsive, unlike an internal bleeding episode. Also, unlike a small bleeding episode, she did not recover quickly or at all and we took her to the Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in Red Bank, NJ (where her onc practices and which is also a 24x7 emergency hospital), where she was admitted to the ICU. All the tests showed no blood in the abdominal cavity, clear heart and lungs and two spots (3 cm) on her liver (which we knew about, but decided not to torture her with addition surgery). Kidney function was fine, etc. She was slightly anemic, but not terribly so, but she frequently has been before, even prior to the HSA. The second day however, she suffered a seizure, followed by another one same day... Her onc suspected that the HSA might have spread to the brain..

She passed on 3/13/2010, snuggled firmly in my arms, showered with
kisses... I have never had to euthanize a dog, so this was especially painful. She went very peacefully, just sighed quietly, licked my nose and closed her eyes...

I consider myself extremely fortunate though -- my sweet girl was 17
years-and-5- months old, had never been ill prior and had comfortably lived
with this evil disease for 1 year and 10 months, sharing many adventures and happy moments together,

I still remember picking her out as the tiny runt of the litter at 6 weeks...

What more can one ask for? Still, it's never enough...

The key, I think, is that there is always hope -- never give up! After all, when she was first diagnosed, I took her to the Animal Medical Center in NY, and they gave her only 2-3 months...

Oleg and Angel Pumpkin

Never give up and never second-guess or doubt your treatment decisions for your fur babies. Do what feels is right. We were pressured by a very-highly regarded oncology team to do a particular treatment which I did not feel comfortable with, ad if we don't, we only have 2-3 months left. I felt going with an oral metronomic therapy was the right decision for us (given Pumpkin's age, personality, etc) and never second-guessed it; it was very much the right thing to do.