Hi there! My dog’s name is Benard, and this is his blog. Benard lost his front left leg due to cancer tumor, and I want to share his canine cancer treatment plan and progress to help others going through the same thing.
It started in January, 2012 when my husband saw a bump on Benard’s left front leg. We had the lump removed by our local vet and didn’t want to know any additional information about it. It just wanted gone. Unfortunately, it grew back within three months. By April, it was same size was it in January. So, back to the Vet we went. Our local vet refer us to a specialist to see if they could surgically remove more mass than he could in the affected area. We investigated our options, remove of lump/tumor, leave it alone or amputation. Making him go through another surgery wasn’t an option nor did we believe amputation was would be the best option. So we choose to leave the lump/tumor alone until it bothered him.
Within weeks the tumor grown four times the size it was in January and Benard was aware it was there and started to gnaw on the lump. So back to the specialist. We had blood work and x-rays of his lungs – all was good. So leaving us with the options of removal the of lump/tumor every 2 months….or amputation. When the specialist told us that the cancer would spread and that he would not be with us within a year and maybe not by the holidays…we were devastated The vet stated based on Benard’s energy level, he had a lot more life in him – more than a few months. It was heart wrenching but we opted for the forbidden amputation.
He’s surgery was June 15th. I left my sweet four legged dog and picked up a tripawd. Unfortunately, 8 days after his surgery – he was rushed back to the doggie hospital. He had a staph infection. We almost lost him. Thanks to the Power of Prayer from friends and family, in addition to antibiotics – Benard is doing Great! He’s happy, alert, and patiently waiting to go on walks! (We only go on mini walks thus far). We have our sweet Benard back!
He’s is going on vacation with us in July and normally he would be walking everywhere with us….but since he’s a new tripawd – I purchased a dog carrier (like a baby back pack carrier) and he loves it! We went to four stores in one day and he was in heaven being part of the action without over working his new tripawd status.