We are posting this for our friend Koby, who has reached his two year ampuversary this month after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma in November, 2006. Go Koby! You are a ROCK STAR!

It was almost two years to the day that my vet said " I have bad news for you.  Koby has osteo sarcoma and has 6 - 9 months left."  I, like the rest of you who have gone through the same thing, was totally stunned.  The wheels started turning and I inquired about amputation.  My vet said if nothing else, he would be much more comfortable.  I
really didn’t need to hear anymore but requested that a biopsy be done to verify my vet’s findings.  My vet also suggested chemotherapy.  Again, there were no guarantees but I felt I had to do everything I could for my buddy Koby.  All that happened in November, 2006 and I’m happy to report that Koby is doing fine for a 12 year old lab. 

Koby basically sailed through the chemo sessions.  We now make the trip up UC Davis Vet school every three months for routine check ups.  He is fast becoming the poster dog for the Oncology clinic.  

A wonderful lady and her husband were at the clinic and had gotten the bad news about their lab Molly.  Unfortunately, Koby had been sedated for his x rays and totally out of it.  Poor Jeannine must have thought this is how the dogs are after the ordeal of amputation and chemo.  We’ve been communicating since and it is wonderful to hear her Molly is doing well.  It was Molly’s mom who turned me on to tripawds.  I just ordered a harness for Koby and am excited about how it will help Koby go up and down stairs and also into the car.

Koby’s meals are way healthier than what I feed myself.  He gets steamed brown rice, a cup of chopped brocolli (barely cooked) and about 10 oz of browned ground turkey.  He also get two rimadyl tablets, two dasuquin tablets, a fish oil pill, a vitamin E pill, a vitamin pill and a calcium pill.  All of the pills are Costco products.  I actually started him on this diet because he had a bad case of colitis (lots of mucous in his stools).  

My vet recommended more fiber in his diet and that has helped tremendously.  For those of you interested in doing the same for your dog, I use one cup of raw brown rice and add at least 2.5 cups of water.  It takes much longer than white rice so be prepared.