Hi all, it’s been so busy at work lately with covid picking up I haven’t had time to post, but Jakey is still doing new amazing things every day. He has now fully claimed going up my stairs, but I still carry him down. Once his incision site is fully covered in fur Im getting him a more supportive harness so that I can help him go down without carrying him.

Overall he’s been doing great, I’ve probably said this already but y’all were right about the progress that comes after the 2 week mark. During the day he now gets one or two 10-15min walks per day and he doesn’t just walk, he wants to run. It’s hard to keep up with him unless I do a fast walk, lol. Not sure if it’s just more comfortable for him to walk at that pace or he’s just super excited to get out walking about again but he’s so happy either way. He’s also figured out how to lift his leg without stumbling, he’s quite proud of himself and so am I. He’s eating great, getting strong and I’m starting to feel like I did the right thing now. 
 
One concern I have and not sure it’s related but with cancer Im always being vigilant. He’s developed a bit of swelling under his right eye, it’s firm, painless and not affecting his ability to eat or play. He’s never had dental problems, his teeth are very clean, I looked inside his mouth near the gums and molars and all looks well. No abscess or redness, teeth look great. His eye is fine as well, no discharge or anything at out the ordinary, just this firm swelling. I’m trying not to be paranoid but of course my first thought is cancer. This has been going on for about a week, but it also happened once right before his surgery. It’s odd, sometimes it’s more swollen sometimes not. His next appt with his oncologist is Dec. 1st, have ya’ll every seen anything like this?

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Hi all, 

Thank you so much for all the love and support, I’m beyond grateful and it’s helping me get through this. Jake’s mouth is all healed up but things went from bad to worse after my last update. 

Since the first dental surgery he had slowly begun to become less interested in food. I chalked it up to the soft diet of chicken and rice that he was getting tired of on top of the antibiotics he’s been on. From the first dental surgery to the last, Jake has been on 4 courses of antibiotics over a 4 week period. Even as a pup Jake’s stomach was sensitive and antibiotics always gave him the runs. I thought that this was no different so I started giving him probiotics and tried harder to get him to eat.

Other symptoms developed over the last 2 weeks, his stomach became very noisy, his stool was consistently loose, and he would randomly regurgitate bits of whatever he had eaten. But the worst was the dramatic weight loss. Some days would be better but I was at a loss and became so upset when he began refusing even just favorite foods and treats. I could tell he was nauseous at times as well. He has been off antibiotics for about 2.5 weeks so I didn’t think that was the culprit. 

He was still acting himself but more easily fatigued, not wanting to eat, loose gassy stool, etc. I started fearing it was cancer related so I got him in to see the oncologist, they did labs and X-rays as well as an abdominal ultrasound but he was free of any obvious cancer. However the abdominal ultrasound showed that his entire GI tract was extremely sick. They decided he needed to be admitted for round the clock monitoring and he was transferred to the ICU at Advanced Veterinary Care Specialists.

They said again that his labs were alright aside from decreased albumin/protein levels which makes sense considering his lack of appetite. But they told me it’s possibly a lymphoma of the GI system. I was hysterical, after everything he’s been through, how strong he’s been and what he’s overcome I couldn’t believe it. He was getting fluids through an IV and they gave him medications to calm his tummy down. I feel terrible putting him through more testing, more doctors, more poking and prodding. I started to question whether or not I should continue. He was admitted Thursday, Friday he has gotten a little worse as he was so protein deficient that fluids were beginning to accumulate in his abdomen. The vet wanted permission to do one more test and place a nasogastric tube. Turns out his GI system was so pissed off that it wasn’t moving things along like normal, so yucky stuff was just backing up making him feel sick. The NG tube would be used to decompress his stomach, remove the bad stuff, take away the nausea, and allow nutrients and meds to go through there much easier since he wasn’t eating. They also wanted to do a fine needle aspiration of his spleen to rule out lymphoma. 

All of this was occurring while I was at work on Friday and I’ve been a mess since he was admitted. I asked the vet if this were her fur baby, would she do this. She says yes. There are two possibilities, he either has the worst case of gastroenteritis they’ve ever seen or lymphoma of the GI system. Both are treatable but in his current state we agreed that further chemo and radiation wouldn’t be a good idea if indeed it was a new cancer. But it had to be ruled out with this test and the NG tube would bring relief either way so I agreed.

I called every 2-3hrs to get an update and around 5pm got some good news. After placing the NG tube they had already suctioned out over 300mL of fluid just sitting in his tummy, no wonder he was nauseous and not wanting to eat. They said he was already looking much better and the results from the spleen aspiration would be in on Saturday. I called throughout the night Friday and got more good news, he was eating!!!! Omg! Thank god! So I kept praying he would get though this whatever happened. Saturday the vet called and told me the spleen was negative and he sus not appear to have lymphoma. So now the diagnosis is likely severe gastroenteritis likely caused by the combo of antibiotics and Carprofen he’s been taking since his initial cancer diagnosis last April. Omg what a relief, but there’s a long road to recovery ahead.

I was allowed to visit him on Saturday afternoon and brought him home last night with a slew of new meds for his tummy and new food as well. They also gave me vitamin B12 that I must inject once a week for 5 weeks. Since I brought him home he’s so tired he just wants to sleep in his cozy bed with his babies. They told me he was eating for them and gave me the same food. But I haven’t gotten him to eat a solid meal yet, just a few of his regular cookies, maybe just the excitement from coming home. I’m praying I can get him to eat today. A lot of the meds have time restrictions, some must be given 30min before meals, one is 2hrs after and can’t be given within 2hrs of the antibiotic they gave me. Poor boy what a mess. I’m familiar with all the meds at least and I’m comfortable doing the injection, he’s just so thin I feel terrible for him and just want him to eat. He keeps turning his nose away from almost everything I bring him. I took today off work to be with him and hope I can work a miracle. Thank you for all the love and prayers.

Hi there,

Things haven’t gotten much better since my last post, Ive been trying very hard to think positive but Im starting to get scared that he may not get through this. He’s still not eating much, I’ve tried everything, every kind of food, supplement, etc. At his checkup this week they weighed him and he’s only 48lbs. My beautiful boy started out about 70lbs.

The vet said his labs have improved but he’s still protein deficient. His protein levels are so low it’s causing him to lose fluid into his abdomen. They called it a protein losing enteropathy. The vet is leaning towards calling this inflammatory bowel disease, but wanted to do an endoscopy to rule out intestinal lymphoma. This problem is, with his current condition there’s a high risk of perforating his bowels because they’re already so weak and inflamed. I decided to hold off, because I feel that even if it’s lymphoma, he wouldn’t survive the treatment. So she gave me more anti nausea meds, probiotics and said to let them know if I change my mind.

He’s barely eating anything, has watery stool, his tummy is so noisy, he looks uncomfortable at times, and he’s so weak. I’m getting scared and I feel so defeated. I thought there would be more time of him feeling good after the amputation, he was doing so well on three legs. I never imagined this would happen and Im scared that Im only prolonging his suffering. He’s getting so thin so quickly. I thought he would get through this but I don’t know how much longer he can make it if he keeps losing weight. I keep thinking I can fix this, that he’ll start feeling well enough to eat, I’ve done everything I can and nothing seems to work on a consistent basis.

I’m terrified to even think of letting him go, just typing this now makes me cry and I’m not ready for this, but I don’t want him to be in pain. Im so scared that Im going to have to make a decision soon. Thank you all for the love and support that got Jake and I this far. I’m more grateful than I can ever convey in words. If y’all have any guidance I will do anything if it will help him.