Archive for the ‘Sophie’ Category

Purl is enjoying testing out products I receive to review. I recently received some products from West Paw – an Eco Nap flat mat and some toys.

A little uncharacteristically, Sophie hopped right on the new bed as soon as I opened the box. Usually, it is the cats and the Greyhounds who take over all pet beds with their various sleeping arrangements.

Purl requested to be the chief tester however, to put the bed through testing.

Nice. I can sleep on it.

And… look! It is also a toy!

Then I found that the label had been chewed off.

Sophie reclaimed the new comfy bed, now that it has passed through Purl Testing.

 

Continued…

Part 2 (my review) of the Eco Nap bed

 

A beautiful sunny day, a nice long walk, some snacks….

you know what’s next. Nap time!

Ugh. Those are two ugly little words no one wants to use in a sentence.

But here we are. The news of lymphoma in Teva, a very healthy 4-year old dog, came as a shock.

Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymph cells of the blood. The most common sign is enlarged lymph nodes. This is not painful, but very tiring. You could argue that chemo is a good word – after all, chemo is what we kill cancer with, but it isn’t something we readily sign up for.

A little background

Teva’s human is my dear friend Heather. Teva is the Dog of Her Life. My Sophie and her Teva are great buddies, especially when Sophie needs a Greyhound break – when she needs to hang with one of her own kind. We all needed a day or two to let this news sink in. But we didn’t sit immobilized, we got a plan in place.

First stop: WSU veterinary oncology. The first appointment was 4 weeks ago, when the Madison-Wisconsin chemotherapy protocol was started for Teva.

This week was week #4, and we traveled back to WSU for a re-check and to get the drug doxorubicin, which is in extremely short supply now and only available at the university.

The journey

As horrible as it is for us humans to grapple with, dogs still live happily in the moment. Walk?! Cookie?! Ball?! All good things that Teva gets in extra doses right now. She has no idea she has cancer – she might want to take a nap rather than hike on the day after chemo, but hey – naps are good too.

The goal of chemo is to shrink those lymph nodes, put this cancer in remission, and have life be as normal as possible for Teva. Lots of hiking, swimming, tennis balls and yummy food.

Here is a mini photo story of our trip to WSU this week

Teva bursts into WSU just like the first time – eager to greet anyone who will say ‘hi’ – no fear here. She, like all Goldens, adores balls. We let her take in this ball while she had her treatment. For her, it is like those squishy balls humans can squeeze to relieve stress. Pleasantly comforting and distracting.

Dr. Choy told us that Teva enjoyed lots of cookies while she was getting her chemo (administered slowly over the course of an hour with IV fluids) and warned Heather that Teva might not be as hungry for dinner later. An unnecessary warning, as Teva’s appetite has remained very good. Even extra-extra good, thanks to prednisone, one of the drugs used in fighting lymphoma.

Give this dog a treat and a ball, and she is all set. Living in the moment is a good lesson that I must learn over and over from my pets.

The next morning, we met for a coffee break. Doxorubicin is a strong chemo agent, and Teva was feeling a little quiet. As Heather and I sipped coffee, we looked down to find the girls hanging out on their own together.

Argos cares. So does Purl. But wow! Check out this uber-comfy special bed that Teva has! Argos notices that it way more deluxe than our beds at home. But again … dogs live in the moment. He did not retain any feelings of envy. It’s all good.

And now for some good news!

Teva’s lymph nodes have shrunk to almost normal size. Something great to celebrate.

Continuing onward

I am thinking of writing up Teva’s continuing story and more about lymphoma and chemo on About.com, including interviewing oncologists at WSU. What are your questions about Teva-cancer-lymphoma-chemo? Feel free to post them as comments here as I gather up info and ideas to write more.

As I wrote in the previous post, our best buddy Teva is undergoing treatment for lymphoma. I am hitting the road with Teva the Wunderdog and Heather tomorrow to revisit the WSU oncology team for more cancer-fighting fun.

We have snacks. We have fresh water. Lots of chat time. And dog cookies – must have dog cookies.

My pet clan is staying home, but we’ll be back soon.

As much as I want to pack you, Quincy, not gonna happen.

 

What do you do when the news is bad? When fears are realized? This happened to me a few weeks ago. My dear friend Heather and her uberdog Teva got the news on a Saturday evening – “it’s cancer.” Lymphoma.

No one wants to think about it, but cancer is horribly common in dogs. Some breeds, such as the Golden Retriever and Boxer, are ‘overrepresented’ as far as cancer goes. Greyhounds too, for bone cancer (osteosarcoma).

But Teva? She is a super athlete, trekking miles every day with her doting humans. A picture of  health and… she just celebrated her 4th birthday. How can this happen? She is on the young side of ‘typical’ age, but not unheard of.

All of us – Heather, spouses, our friends and colleagues at Southcare Animal Medical Center – were devastated at the news.

So what do friends do? We email, text, phone … stay in touch. And we consulted with the oncology specialists at Washington State University. We received excellent info and great service there.

Best of all, Heather has an amazing attitude. Laughter really IS the best medicine! You rock, Heather and Teva.

And the story continues on Heather-Teva’s blog → The Tail Wagging Muse

Photo: Sophie and Teva

I posted this photo on my Facebook page, and people are adding great captions! I will post all of them here later tonight.

Feel free to add yours on the FB page or as a comment below.

And now, from the Facebook page!

Nancy Daily: Bengal Kitty King of the Jungle

Leslie Misener: My mother always told me to let sleeping dogs lie!

Madaline H. Muth: Watchcat guarding the watchdogs while they sleep. Sleeping is what my Greyhound and two other mixed breed rescues do best.

Patricia Dancosse Westgate: ‎Quick lie down and pretend you’re asleep so she’ll think the cat did it.

Rose Chudkosky: It doesn’t matter what size you are ~ it’s who’s on top that counts!!!

Marcy Cheke: ‎…..After the game!

Debbie Trueblood: Looks like the kitty is saying “Can we keep them!!”

Patrick Carroll: Cat: Why are you two so exhausted? I’M ‘feline’ fine!

Madaline H. Muth: A little tranquilizer in their water dishes works every time. Purrrrrfect!

Penny Forest Kolacki: Cat: Hope mom does not find that missing bottle of rum. I spiked the dogs water.

Barnie was the originator of the Invisi-Cat Shield, but he seems to have outgrown it. He made good use of it in his day. He was an expert at slithering in the shield, ready and waiting for his next victim.

Quincy has now inherited the Invisi-Cat Shield, and he utilizes it just about daily. He takes the job very seriously. He still has a few things to learn, though.

The first thing would be how to enter the shield. I have yet to catch him with the camera – but he uses both front paws, his face, a back paw and his tail to rumple up the shield and find an entry port. Barnie wins finesse points here.

Quincy also needs to learn that Barnie might not be the best attack subject, being a cat and being wise to the ways of the shield and all, but… he tries.

(sorry for the photo quality on some of these – cell phone photos!)

 

Meanwhile, Barnie ignores Invisi-Cat Quincy and hops up to the windowsill above.

Finished surveying the outside world, Barnie hops down from the sill and walks right past Invisi-Cat Quincy.

Apparently another cat is too smart for this. Dogs are better subjects.

One annoying and cute thing the dogs do is crowd in the bathroom when I am getting ready to leave. It was OK with one dog, a little cozy with two, and now with three plus an Invisi-Cat, it is pretty crowded. It did make it a little easier for Quincy to pick his victims, though.