Sam’s op took 3½ hours — but now he’s as happy as Larry
Adiagnosis of cancer in a beloved animal is devastating for owners. although it is relatively common in pets, it’s important to note that many forms of cancer can be successfully treated or managed to provide your four-legged friend with an excellent quality of life.
and although many owners worry about putting them through cancer treatment, pets tend to handle it well. it’s common to feel helpless, but there are ways you can provide support.
Watch your pet closely for signs of improvement or decline and keep your vet informed. Ensure they have a quiet, comfortable place to rest — as well as plenty of nutritional food and fresh water. Cherish the cuddles, the laughs and enjoy your time with them.
Here, three owners describe how they — and their pets — have coped with the big C. . .
HE LOOKS A BIT SILLY, BUT I MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE
VICCI ROBERTS, 35, runs a doggy day care centre near the home in Bwlchgwyn, Wales, that she shares with her Labrador Sam, 12. i’vE had sam since he was eight weeks old and he’s my world, a very special part of my life. so when i found a growth on his gums a few years ago, i was relieved when the vet told me it was benign and removed it.
she explained it was likely it would grow back, so when a second growth appeared in his mouth in october last year, i assumed it would be the same thing.
i took him back to vets4Pets, but a biopsy revealed there were cancerous cells within the growth that could spread throughout the rest of sam’s jaw.
To prevent this, they would need to remove the area around the growth — a large part of sam’s jaw — and his canine teeth.
i was gutted. i really hadn’t expected the growth to be anything but benign. But we decided to go ahead with the operation because sam was otherwise healthy and we wanted to give him the best possible chance of life.
But while he was in surgery, the vet called me to say she was going to have to remove even more of his jaw as the cancer was deeper than we thought. My heart sank but i trusted her to make the right decision, even though it was brutal surgery. it took three and a half hours in the end — a long time for an old dog to be under anaesthetic.
But within a few days sam was back to his old self, albeit looking a bit silly. Because so much jaw was removed, his tongue constantly hangs out of his mouth like a piece of bacon!
now all his feed has to be liquidised into soup so he can lick it up — he flicks it everywhere and i mop the floor what feels like 15 times a day.
sam still has a few back teeth and loves to use them to munch green vegetables and carrots — it’s cute to watch. He’s so happy now and full of energy, i know i made the right decision.
WE CHERISH EVERY WALK
DAVID BROWN, 62, is a retired engineer who lives in Swindon with his wife Chris, also 62. They have two grown-up children and Cheddar, an 18-month-old Cocker Spaniel. iT all kicked off at the end of last year.
We’d had Cheddar since he was a puppy and he’s a proper little character who loves chasing a ball — he’ll run you off your feet.He was always perfectly healthy until we noticed he had a bit of diarrhoea last november.
We took him to our local vet, who at first thought he had a touch of gastroenteritis and then, when it didn’t clear up, colitis
(inflammation of the bowel). after a few days on antibiotics, Cheddar noticeably improved and we thought we’d turned the corner.
But in early december we took him for his inoculation boosters and the vet felt his tummy to make sure he was healthy. But the found a lump.
a CT scan and X-ray didn’t show what it was, so the vet wanted to operate.
We went home and after an hour
she called to say there was quite a big blockage they were going to remove.
There followed an anxious threehour wait for news. In the end, they cut out 1.5 inches of his bowel, which was badly diseased, and sent it off for testing.
Three days later Cheddar was home. A week later we went back for the test results.
We could see something was wrong — the vet was quite emotional. She sat us down and told us he had an aggressive lymphoma of the bowel and that it was terminal.
It was a hammer blow: there were a lot of tears and just numbness that something like that could happen to such a young dog.
And there was no outward sign of it — he was a happy, bouncy, mischievous dog.
That’s what made it so hard. He had intensive chemotherapy for a month and now he has it once a month with steroids every day.
We don’t know whether he’s got three weeks or three years. We just know it will come back.
So we’re enjoying life with him — plenty of walks, taking him to the seaside, meeting up with his friends to chase balls and frisbees. It’s been the best it can. But it just feels so unfair.