Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

Time to check in!  Here is Nick looking for fun at the dog park.... Nick is doing fine, getting very agile and strong with these new muscles, loves life, protects us from coyotes and is a great snuggler. He's been going to a bar brunch every week where my husband is playing music, so he enjoys greeting his "guests" and getting one sausage in tiny pieces over two hours. Spoiled!

Here is our boy standing in a puddle in freezing weather, very comfortable.

When he was a teenager he used to do this and it was impossible to get him out, but now he comes happily, ears flapping.

OSU took Nick off metronomic cytoxan for two weeks because his urinalysis showed increasing blood (possibly becoming cystitis). His recent urinalysis was clear, so they want to put him back on cytoxan again. That seems illogical to me without constant monitoring, so between that advice and the fact that this very social and patient dog is telling me he's tired of doctor's appointments, we are discontinuing chemo. We do have an appointment at BARC in March for a second booster. Based on how well Nick's doing now, that date seems quite possible, but I'm crossing my fingers!

Nicholas was doing so well that I was beginning to hope against hope that he'd be in the tiny percent of dogs who survive osteosarcoma, and he might well have been.

However a week ago he missed the bottom step of an old concrete basement entrance, stumbled and fell heavily against the door frame, re-injuring his back. We had driven up to Seattle for his 9 month Yale vaccine booster, and had spend the afternoon in our son's back yard. He was going down to the refiinished basement to go to sleep when he fell. Nick got up but had trouble walking and by morning could not stand at all. At BARC they carried him in on a stretcher and gave him his shot but recommended we go straight to our vet that night.  So for a week he was in great pain, despite maximum pain meds. They thought a slipped disc and he's so strong and healthy, we hoped he would recover, but it got worse until he couldn't lift his head and whimpered, cried sometimes, and was getting almost no real sleep.

We kept beside him, night and day, all week, and friends came by to support him (He's always loved a party!). My soul, this Nicholas, our last dog. What an amazingly kind and intelligent being he was! I am honored to have known and be known by him. The vet he's had since puppyhood came yesterday and we let him go peacefully, knowing he would be with his mom, without pain, and watching over us.

We'll bury his body today, near us, but Nicholas's presence is so much stronger. Our family is missing him terribly. Friends and Tuman's music students too. Lots of tears. People whose names I do not recognize write in on our dog park Facebook page about how much they loved him, about the last time they hugged him. He made everyone he knew a better person through his integrity and his gentle love. 

Thank you for all the help and support you have given us both on this forum. It's a wonderful resource for all,  Suzanne

Your letter helped so much. Hank's story too.  I'm feeling disoriented without my dear boy.