She has Cancer!

Hi Everyone,
I need some help, advice, encouragement..................anything!

My beloved baby Zora; the vet says she has cancer!

About August 2008, I notice that Zora got a little cut on the top of her paw rite above her nuck. I did not pay too much attention to this because the dogs in my yard always get lil nicks from running, being wild etc.
After a while I noticed that it healed up by about October 2008, and a scab had formed over this little cut.

Then in December of 2008, I noticed that this cut was back, but notice it was like a little boil or lesion so I thaught I would lace it to drain the blood and everything would be fine.

Well I did drain the blood out of it, then I cleaned the inside with some betadine soulution. I continued to clean this "cut" with the betadine for the entire month of January 2009. Anyway, some days I was certain that this thing was healing but then February came around and it was still not healed.

At this time I decided to put her on 500mg of ammoxicillan along with the betadine bath once a day. For two and a half weeks she was on ammoxicillan but this "cut" appered to get bigger.

At this point, I went to a much stronger, antibiotic: Cephalexin. I gave her 500 mg of this for three weeks. At this point the "cut" was covering about 25% of her paw and I was thinking that the cephalaxin would definitely clear this up. Cephalaxin is one of the strongest antibiotics out there and it has worked MIRACLES for me in the past. So I was feeling very confident that this "cut" would be gone in about three weeks.
Well I was wrong, This thing got bigger in 3 weeks. At this point I went to the vet.

At the vet he looked at her and put her on 1000mg of Cepalaxin a day . I told him that I had her on the 500mg a day of cephalaxin (along with betadine bath), and he was somewhat surprised to see that it did not work. That is why he increased it to 1000mg a day.
He then told me to bring her back when the pills were done in two and a half weeks.

At the end of this time, this "cut" was much worse. Her entire paw was engulfed with this cut. But what was more astonding was that the morning she had to go back to the vet, I noticed see had a lump in her neck area. At this moment I got really down because I knew that this was not good.

Once at the vet and he saw the condition of her paw, he said that it has to be cancer. He did not know about the lump in her chest yet, so I then told him. Once I told him that he was 100% certain.

Rite then I asked him what should I do. He then tells me that I should put her down! Man, I could not be hearing this rite now, not with Zora! He then went on to tell me that he knows that it is hard for me because of the history I have with Zora.
Lets put it like this, Zora is my baby. She is ten years old and she is the oldest dog in my yard. She is the daughter of one of my best dogs ever. Man lets put it like this, we have such a bond for each other , that she gets jeolous of my wife (but not in a vicious manner). She was in my life before my wife.

To make things even harder, in January 2009, I lost a male pup (Sunjata) at 5 months old that I had GREAT expectations for. Then In February 2009, I lost one of my better females (Sauda)!

So its been a very rough year for me with my yard, so I am having a very hard time with Zora!

Anyway, I suggested to my vet that he should remove her leg/paw. But he said that it may not make a difference because of the lump. I then told him to do a biopsy and then we can see which way to go. So he did the biopsy and hopefully I will know the resutls in about 1-2 weeks (because I live in the Bahamas, the sample has to be sent to a lab in the USA).

Yesturday Zora did not eat and today I had to hand feed her (and she did not eat much). This is the first time that she has not eaten. I am soooooooooooo worried and down over this. This is the FIRST that I thaught to my self that I may have to put her down!

Can some one please give me some advice!?

I apologize for writting so much but this is really bothering me!

Take care and thank you. ZORA

ZORA

ZORA

SAUDA

SUNJATA

 

Damn im really sorry you have to go through this. I wish you and Zora the best of luck.

 

This is so sad... My prayers are with you.

 

I am so very sorry. I lost my girl Marz to bone cancer a couple years back and tomorrow I am taking my boy Tank in as he had a mast cell tumor removed a couple months back and another one has appeared. I am just hoping it hasn't spread to his lymphnodes as that would basically be the end for him. The only thing I hope if it has spread, is that I have more courage to let him go, instead of letting things go too long like I did with Marz as I didn't want her to die. It's never easy to know when the time is ''right'', but don't wait until the time is right for you, because it will never be. Do it when the time is right for her. As difficult as it maybe. I've been in your spot before, and tomorrow I may be again depending how this vet visit goes. Your crew is beautiful.

Have you sought out any alternative options? If you can, get her on raw, as grains will feed the cancer and make it spread faster. I wish I would have kept all the info I was given by the homeopath diet wise but I was so upset when she passed I deleted it all. There are some really good yahoo groups on canine cancer though with good recommendations you can check out. Strength to you my friend.

 

Thanks alot Zoe. I wish you the best with your situation!

I have been feeding my dogs completely raw for five years now.
I am searching every and anything that I can find on this topic.

I recently came across a natural remedy for cancer that was "claimed' to be succesfull. I have not found any clinical data or medical publications that concludes that it works. However, because I am in need of a miracle I started her on it last week.
It is 3 tablespoons of honey mixed with one teaspoon of cinammon.

 

The homeopath also suggested ground organic raw almonds, ground organic greens, shark cartiladge, fish oil, gaud... what else... for pain you can give white willow bark powder. Tumeric. Avoid any veggies that are high glycymic like carrots. If anything comes back to me, I'll add it. I swear I have a mental block of everything I was giving her.

 

I'd worry about that honey though as sugar does feed cancer. I don't know if honey would count or not???

 

http://www.TFPets.com

Or look up Transfer Factor. It's amazing stuff, I supplement with it regularly just for regular health needs but have had several great experiences with it in a cancer case. Good luck. I hope it all works out for you and your pup.

 

So sorry to be reading all this bad news. You will be in my thoughts and I hope you will be given direction about what to do. Good luck to you...

 

Good morning everyone,
My vet just called me with the biopsy results. It came back negative for cancer. So now what? I am confussed now!
The lump in her chest has gotten bigger. I asked him if it could be diabetes but he said that he did not see any evidence of it. He then said that he would have to do blood work to see if she has diabetes and the sample has to be shipped to a lab in America again!
This is soooooo frustrating. He thinks that it may just be a very bad infection that has spread from her paw to her chest. But if that was the case, I would have thaught that the cephalaxin would have taken care of this.
Does anyone have any more suggestions for me?
Thank you.

 

Congrats for it not being Cancer. I hate CANCER nothing but a curse of the devil. It might be a cyst. I would take the dog to a vet that can dianose that problem

 

Hope Both Tank and Zora Pull threw you guys!! All the best wishes! You folks are some very loving owners. I wish Everyone would care for there animals like you folks do!

 

I was thinking the same thing. It could be a fatty cyst. My JC has one on his chest.

 

If it was an infection, then I don't understand why cephalaxin wouldn't fix it either, so it sounds like a fatty tumor or something that may need to be drained. Do you have a picture of the actual thing? What does it feel like when you touch it?

 

Tanks is looking like it's a fatty tumor! Did your vet aspirate anything out of what was on her chest? Arez just had a lump removed that was ''iffy'' but to small to aspirate and the vet said the difference was with Arez when you pulled her skin away from her body, the lump was still in the skin, where with Tanks, you pulled the skin away, but the lump didn't come with the skin but stayed back and that was part of what gave her the impression it was a fatty lump. :confused: Of course along with what she aspirated and after checking his lymphnodes and bloodwork. I wonder if trying another antibiotic would work. Cephalexan doesn't work for all bacterias. Venus had her arm swell up massive and fill with puss and it was a very rare form of staff. I know with my daughter, they sometimes start her on an antibiotic, but when the throat culture they did comes back, they might switch her to a more appropriate one.

 

I wish you the best of luck with your dog! There are many different types of antibiotics out there and honestly, Cephalexin is not the strongest one out on the market. There are much stronger antibiotics out there like Baytril and Clavamox and things like that. Depending upon what type of infection you are dealing with, the vet will try to prescribe the appropriate antibiotic. For example... when a dog has a skin infection, most vets will usually prescribe Cephalexin and if a dog has some type of infection in its mouth, most vets will usually prescribe Amoxicillin. Just like humans, if dogs are continuously prescribed one type of antibiotic... their body can develop a tolerance to it and then you will have to put them on a different antibiotic. Sometimes a dog may have a reaction to a certain antibiotic, and then the vet will have to try them on an different one. And sometimes if a dog has a very BAD infection, they may need to be put on a couple of different very strong antibiotics. Sometimes it's just trial and error. The vet may try one antibiotic that doesn't seem to work and then maybe another one will get rid of the infection. I hope that everything works out for you and your beloved dog. You guys will be in my thoughts and prayers. Keep us posted on the progress! I hope my information helps!

 

Thanks everyone!

I will be doing blood works and a culture. Once these are done I will know exactle what type of infection I am dealing with (if it is an infection).

Then we would know exacly what antibiotic to use.

I will try to post a pic of the lump in her chest and the wound on her paw.

Thanks again!

 

Hi guys,

Here is what her paw and the lump looks like.

 

Chest lump looks an awful lot like a fatty tumor. As for the paw wound, I'm not sure what that is, but I'd buy some salve and wrap it, changing the bandages every day and cleaning it. DO NOT put alcohol on it if you clean it please, that can actually kill tissue. Best of luck

 

I would probably get a second opinion from a different vet. Is she chewing the paw like that? Pictures can be misleading and my eyesight isn't the best either. If she has some sort of nerve damage she could be chewing the paw herself. That just doesn't look right at all. I would definitely get another opinion.