Oh My Dog!

Emmett with his cast and his teddy bear

I wrote last week about Emmett and his lump, the tests that were being done, the hopes and fears we had for the outcome. On Monday night, our vet called with the news. “Cancer,” she said. “A nerve sheath tumor.” Those words, they ripped a hole in my chest. My heart shattered into a thousand shards that I can still feel stabbing me. Emmett, my puppy soulmate, the doggy love of my life, the boy who brings a smile to everyone with a wag of his tail, he has cancer. How can this be?

What is this thing, this ugly little thing inside his lovely little leg? We were all business on the call. We managed to ask the right questions: What does this mean? What can we do? How could this happen?

She referred us to the Veterinary Specialty Center of Indiana. We meet with a surgeon and an oncologist tomorrow morning. They will look him over, examine the tumor, and make recommendations. Our vet prepared us. There are two courses of action, she said. Surgery plus radiation, which will cause it to go into remission, but the recurrence rate is high. Or amputation, which could eliminate the cancer altogether because it probably hasn’t spread past the tumor site.

Amputation. The word pounds through my head every second of every minute since we hung up that phone. Amputation. If that means Emmett will be cancer free, then I’ll help with the surgery. I would trade his leg for his life a million times over.

I know I will mourn the loss of his leg, of his wholeness. But deep down I know that the loss of the leg won’t break his kind-hearted, soulful spirit. He’ll still be Emmett, he’ll still love doing therapy work, he’ll still rest his head in my lap when he gets sleepy and wag his tail when he wants a little piece of my lunch.

Would Lucas treat him differently? I think not, only because Lucas watches Emmett as if he’s a god, following and mimicking his every move.

Will Emmett’s temperament change? Maybe he’ll be testy at first, as he gets used to his new gait. But Emmett radiates love, and I’m confident that nothing can shake that.

I started researching recovery and strengthening exercises for amputees. It seems dogs fare much better than people – most being entirely used to their new hobble in 10 to 14 days. I know the first time he stumbles, the first fall, the first struggle he has to lay down or get up or climb the stairs, the little pieces of my heart will shatter into even smaller bits. But if he’s cancer free, if amputation is the answer, if it rids his body of this insidious little monster, then I will be able to find a way to put all the little pieces back together.

More tomorrow, after our appointment.

At some point along the line, someone – I can’t even remember who at this point – instructed us to feed Emmett from a raised bowl because he’s barrel-chested so prone to bloat. When Lucas came along, we got the same advice because he’s a Dane or shepherd mix. So for years we’ve fed the boys out of raised dishes. We’ve even gone as far as holding their dishes up when on vacation or visiting someone without raised bowls.

So imagine my surprise when I came across an article on Dolittler (a FABULOUS blog, btw) about research findings that have shown raised bowls to be a contributing factor in causing bloat.

In the large study, between 20 and 52% of the cases of bloat occurred due to a raised food bowl.

Woah. I guess we’ll be rethinking our feeding system, thanks to this info!

Emmett’s biopsy on Thursday went well. No complications, thanksfully, and the results should be back by Tuesday. Whenever either of the boys have to be anesthetized, we always joke that they stumble around like a couple of drunk monkeys. But this time around, Emmett took a really long time to fully come out of it. While we await the results, I thought I’d share some post-opp pics of Emmett.

When he first got home, John carried him up the stairs and laid him in bed.

Lucas watches over Emmett

He tried so hard to stay awake.

But he just couldn't

And, of course, it rained, so we had to tie a bag around his bandages to go outside.

Done. Just done.

After a good night’s sleep, Emmett was mostly back to his usual self, though a little slow-moving. I think the bandage started to bother him – it was really extensive compared to the size of the incision – but luckily it comes off today.

His bandage matches his busy bone!

Results and update on Tuesday!

We have gobs of dog toys. We have ropes and busy bones, Kongs and brand new Wubbas, balls and frisbees, and lots of things that started off as something new and shiny but now look like they’re some sort of slobbery fabric-creature. The boys always have something to play with. They have indoor toys to play with and outdoor toys to play with. They have toys sprinkled around the house, ready for them to play, play, play.

And they do love to play.

Except, they only want to play with the toy that the other one has. Even if there’s an array of toys spread around Lucas, if Emmett walks over and selects the most boring, plain, old rope out of the bunch, all of a sudden Lucas WANTS THAT ROPE. So much so that he leaps up, dive bombs Emmett, and nose-bops him until Emmett relents.

So Emmett usually drops it, gives his version of a shoulder shrug, and saunters off while Lucas gleefully shakes the rope back and forth, reveling in his victory. Ah, but victory is short lived. Because Emmett has wandered over and picked up a ball. And now, oh my goodness, screw the stupid rope! Lucas MUST HAVE THAT BALL.

Rinse. Repeat. Forty times a day.

Yesterday I posted a pic of Emmett guarding his Wubba from Lucas even while he dozed. Lucas decided his toy of the day was the squeaker. But he couldn’t let the squeaker get in the way of his daily to-do list (barking at the mailman, guarding the house from the front, barking at nothing, guarding the house from the balcony, barking at the FedEx guy, guarding the house from the guest bedroom, barking at the neighbor who so dutifully waters her gorgeous lawn each night, etc.). So he brought it with him. Oh, but where to put it when your barking/guarding duties are so pressing? Ah! Yes! Here we go!

Why didn’t I ever think of perching it on the windowsill before? But what happens with the sentry must move? Here Lucas guards our house while watching out the balcony door. But for the shift change…

Perfect! Lucas can guard the house from the front AND preclude Emmett from touching the squeaker. Victory! For today anyway…

While we were on vacation, we noticed a little lump on Emmett’s front right leg. It cropped up suddenly and was about the size and density of a grape. Of course we were worried, but it didn’t seem to bother him. So as soon as we got back to Bloomington, we took him to the vet. The quick-and-dirty cell culture in the vet’s office showed abnormal cells. Though she sent the culture off to a pathologist, the vet warned us that, if the lump is a cancer, the area on his leg won’t allow for a wide enough or deep enough excision.

Monday night was rough around here. We were worried Emmett might have to lose a leg, and even worse, we were devastated that he could have cancer. Maybe I’m a little biased, but Emmett is the sweetest soul with a great big doggy heart. He’s only five years old. He’s in excellent health (though perhaps a tad doughy). But otherwise, we’ve never had any health issues with Emmett.

Anyway, the vet expected to get us our results by Thursday, but she rushed it and called us last night. The cells didn’t show malignancy, which was a humongous giant relief. But they didn’t not show it either. The next step is a biopsy, which is scheduled for tomorrow. She’s going to take a little sliver of the lump, and we should know more by Tuesday. This is going to be a loooong weekend.

In the meantime, we’ve ramped up their healthy diet, adding steamed carrots and broccoli with dinner. Though Lucas eyeballed the broccoli a little suspiciously – and even went so far as to spit out the first piece – they both gobbled it up.

So until we know for sure what’s going on, we’re trying to focus on the positive: it’s not bothering him and cancer cells weren’t obvious in the first swab.

In other news, Emmett and Lucas received Wubba toys from their fabulous aunt and uncle. Emmett can’t get enough of his.

He sleeps with it to prevent Lucas from playing with it. Though they got two Wubbas, they only want the one that the other has. More on Lucas’ toy-theft-prevention system tomorrow.

“You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you this look that says, ‘My God, you’re right! I never would’ve thought of that!’”
Dave Barry

After a whilwind week, things are finally settling down for Emmett and Lucas. It started with a road trip to visit family and friends. Festivities included a cookout, chipmunk chasing, and a trip to the dog beach. The highlight of it all for Lucas was meeting his first cat! The boys had never been around a cat before – not counting the hordes of alley cats around our DC condo – so we weren’t sure how they’d react. Emmett basically pretended like the cat wasn’t there and focused on stealing his friend’s bone instead. Lucas, though, was enamored with the thing. Even when she was napping in her crate, he stood in front watching her. Little Penny is just two pounds, so we didn’t want Lucas to accidentally hurt her, but here’s a very fuzzy camera phone picture of Penny batting his nose around:

After the busy week, we returned home just in time to attend our Friday night training class, followed by Emmett’s first day of “work” as a therapy dog on Saturday morning (more on that in a later post). Saturday ended with a trip to my parents’ house, where the boys played with Otto, Tank, and Buster.

Whew!

We spent this morning relaxing and catching up after having been away. The boys thought they’d get to lounge all day to recuperate from their busy week, but today was absolutely gorgeous! So we took them on an hour-long walk around the Indiana University campus, and we all sat at an outdoor cafe for a while, just enjoying the beautiful day.

It has been a fantastic week, followed by a fun weekend. More on Emmett’s therapy dog work once I’ve caught up on emails, laundry, and sleep!

More news from the ASPCA’s Record-Breaking Dog Fighting Raid. Five hundred souls await evaluations to determine what will happen to them…

Emmett shares his bed - and jute chew - with Turk!

Click on this link to go to The Animal Rescue site! By clicking on the button, the site’s sponsors contribute to the food and care of shelter animals. The best part is it takes two seconds, and you can click it every single day – John’s idea was to save the link in our inboxes so we’d remember to do it each morning as we logged in! Brilliant!

Also, the site has a shopping section with a ton of really great pet products (and very cute human items as well), and the proceeds from those sales also go to help animals. I’m thinking about getting this Organic Plush Bone for Emmett and Lucas!

The ASPCA announced that they aided in the largest dog fighting crackdown in U.S. history. Click here to read about the raid and subsequent arrests, and learn what you can do to help.