Hello fellow tripawds,

Introducing Kimbo, a mixed breed dog from Venezuela. He lives with his human mom Paula, his human sister Abril and his dog brother Lucky. I am his aunt, and I have lived with him on and off since we rescued him, but now I live 20 minutes away from them.

He is a 13 year-old mixed breed baby, rescued from our hometown in Venezuela. About three months ago we started noticing that he was limping a little bit with his right front leg, which we thought was caused by a fat deposit on his right shoulder. He was taken to his yearly vet checkup on Nov. 9th, 2019, and the doctor said that he was just feeling uncomfortable because he felt a “strange object” in his shoulder, gave Kimbo his due vaccines and sent him home. But the limping didn’t go away, instead he started to avoid using his front right leg altogether. Seeing that Kimbo wasn’t getting better, on Dec. 18th, 2019, he was taken to see another doctor for a second opinion, they did blood-work there, and again dismissed a cancer diagnosis but they advised to get x-rays done to determine what was going on with his leg… he went back to that same office on Dec. 26th, 2019 for the x-ray, and that’s when they discovered that the bone in the distal section of his right front leg looked abnormal. As if it was nothing, they suggested immediate amputation and chemo. After a lot of tears from the initial shock, we sat in horror trying to process it all, as the vet explained that the x-rays they did of his chest were not good enough to determine metastasis in the lungs.

After digesting all this heartbreaking information, we decided to look for yet another opinion, so we made an appointment with an oncologist and we took him on Dec. 31st, 2019. They did more x-rays and thankfully, there weren’t any nodules (at least not visible) that suggested metastasis. Sadly, that new doctor also suggested the same plan of action: amputation to alleviate the pain he is constantly feeling on his leg, followed by chemo every 3 weeks for about 6 months to avoid the spread of cancer to his lungs.

He got the surgery on January 6th. He did very well and he was discharged at night the same day. The days immediately after the amputation were a little challenging, but the wound healed very nicely and he got the stitches removed on Friday 17th. He has had a couple of rough nights, but he is doing very well.

During my research I saw a book someone recommended named: "My Dog Has Cancer. What Can I Do" by Heather Beuke Diers, so we decided to slowly introduce him and our other dogs to diet that includes raw vegetables, organic chicken, salmon, and a few supplements like Life Gold, Flax Seed, and Fish Oil to name a few.

Today we had another oncologist visit and they went ahead and administered the first chemo treatment via IV. He was a champ!

There's so much more to this process and just now I had a minute to write this. The day we received the news we started researching all we could. I found this site which has been a blessing! It is loaded with tons of information and support! Some of our decisions were supported by the posts from other people here, and though we know we are buying time for Kimbo and every case is different, people here gave us hope of giving Kimbo quality life for whatever time God wants us to have him around.

Thank you everybody, and thank you Jerry for your legacy!

~Ivette.

P.S.: Couldn't figure out how to add a picture... I'll try again next time :-/