Hi Smiley and Mum

A prayer has been said for smiley and we wish you the very best in whatever you are able to do! Stay in touch and we can at least be a shoulder of support!

Take good care of yourself and love every moment with Smiley, she just needs to know that you love her to pieces and that you will take care of her the very best that you can, whether that is surgery or not! It is never an easy decision. You must look at the reality of what you are able to do. You have already gone over and above what most people could or would do for their pups. We know from experience that chemo is not cheap!!! I had to make a decision years ago for my 5 year old SharPei. I absolutely couldn’t afford her surgery and so even though she had tons of life and spirit left in her, i had to say goodbye. We will be with you no matter what okay! 

Chance is certainly a brilliant dawg to follow in the foot steps 🐾 of though!!! 

Lots of hugs coming your way and a special snuggle for Smiliey please!

Petra, Stewie and his Pride of Kittens 

Welcome Smiley and her mom.

Sorry to hear of your diagnosis, but glad yiu found you way here. There are so many great pets and their people here, and all have had these descisions to make. 

We went through two pet cancer diagnosis in 2016-2017. The first hit our female , Mya, so quickly we had no time for choices. Begining of June she started to limp Aug 2 she had surgery, to amputate her right front leg. We were so scared of her hating us for doing the surgery... but as all will say here dogs live in the day or the moment, they are not burdened with our over active imaginations. After her surgery she came bounding out of the door to the waiting room so happy to see us. We all cried , ( tearing up now) ... she was so strong. She did very well with the surgery had 5 rounds of chemo with little issues, ( other that secondary infections) two times chemo was postponed a week because she had a bladder infection once and a toe nail chipped, that we missed paying attention to the front, that also had got infected. 

Durring a follow up appointment 6 months after surgery an Xray showed metastasis in her lung. At that point we started to look at alternatives and started her on immunotherapy and cell care, through a holistic Vet in our city, which did so improvement in her energy and over all health. Sadly we had to let her go a few months later.

We had a Xray done on our male dog, Macleod,  and he was found to have the same osteosarcoma in the opposite front leg. (Not again...) yes again... But this time upon diagnosis it was found that he already had mets. present in his lungs so we decided not to do the surgery and imminently started him on the immunotherapy and cell care. He was able to walk on all 4 limbs, and he stayed with us untill Aug 1 2017. At that point we were only waiting for the day when he had a bad fall or something that would have made his last days horrable. So we had a wonderfull day in the sun eating BBq stake and ice cream, his favorite.

If this should ever come across our path in the future we would consider the alternative to surgery based on our own history. Each if our cases were different, as they all are. Dogs do function well on 3 legs its the cancer that is the problem. In all my research i found that some people (including myself) had used CBD ( made from cannabis) for pain, and i asked my vet(s) what they thought, and ALL of them agreed it was a good choice. We got a prescription from out vet and started to give it to them both daily. I can say without a doubt that it helped with pain and appetite and would use it again if required. 

Durring the last year we had met a couple in out city with a Great Dane Tripawd who was 10 years old and 1 year past his surgery bounding the street like a two year old. I asked them how he handled the chemo and they told me he has not had any chemotherapy and was only on immunotherapy and cell care as well as a raw freeze dried diet. I have not seem them in a few months but believe they have moved. Maverick  was his name and i did tell them to connect with this forum so i hope they did because their story is quite remarkable. 

On a brighter note last Nov we brought home a sweety from the local SPCA 3-1/2 year old Husky-Malamute cross named Diamond who is our little gem.  We had not had any dog hair in our meals for about 4 months and the lack of fiber was starting put a strain on OUR health 

We wrote a blog durring our fight, Dogs Rule, we have not posted much lately but we did post a lot about the information we found. Hope it is of some help to you and Smiley.

Many thoughts and tail wags coming your way.

Terry, Allison, Diamond, *Mya, *Macleod.

smileysmom said
Thanks to all of you.  I appreciate the support so much.   I have decided to go ahead with surgery.  She is a strong willed dog and I know she will be ok.  

It sounds like Smiley has a strong willed Mum too!!! We applaud you on your decision and would have done so otherwise too, just to let you know!!! She is going to do fine!!! We will be here for you, with support and our experiences, so reach out if you need to okay!

She is my alpha dog, the others Rudy and Shadow, both males bow down to her when she enters any area.    So even though this is going to be harder on me I'm sure I want her to be able to have what's left of her time free of the MCT and discomfort.  

Yes, this is going to be much harder on you, ‘cause your brain is going in all directions all at once. Smiley is going to be looking to you for direction, especially due to the medications, she will be confused and may ‘shout’ out in fear. I would suggest a small quiet area where Smiley can recover without any worries about her ‘weird’ space right now. 

Smiley is going to need good medication management, rest, rest, anything tasty, rest, rest, potty break, rest, rest, rest.... I’m sure you get the picture! For the next couple of weeks, you will also need as much rest as possible. Most of us S’Mothers sleep close to our babies sides in the first few nights. It’s ruff, but totally do’able!!! 

You are doing what you can for your darling girl and i commend you through and through!! 

She's a very special dog to me as all of you have had yours.  Thanks so much.  Surgery has been schedule for the 11th and I'm praying all goes well for her during surgery.  Thanks again to all of you.

Would you please come back on and remind us with a note to say how Smiley is doing and on the day of her surgery we can be there with you in spirit! Prayers to you both!

I had a Rottie that had bone cancer.  And at the time I had no way of helping her with it.  I had to say goodby to Maggie way too soon.  I'm hoping my Smiley girl gets to stay around awhile.

THANK YOU  

Maggie is surrounding you now! She will give you comfort when you need it the most! Smiley will give it her most and she will give you her unconditional love in all of her days! We can not look at a time stamp.... we sometimes get what we ask for, so keep looking to the future and be sure to think in years and not months!!!

Strength and hugs are coming your way!

Petra, Stewie and his Kittens 

Did you mean a bootie or cover for the leg? No. The air is good for it, it may or may not have a bandage, just don't get it wet until sutures are out and incision is healed.

❤️