pampa

So glad to hear MM that they got the WHOLE tumor and that cells hadn't spread to the stalk... It's sounding good You both must be sooooo relieved. Glad to hear that, although it is not absolutely fantastic news, it is pretty good news none-the-less !... Keep us posted after speaking with your vet on Monday.

The stiches are great fun I just removed my girls stitches on Sunday... Easy-peasy Amazing what we manage to do to avoid unnecessary stress to our dogs and our poor, fragile purse-strings eh

Best wishes and positive vibes coming your way I'm glad you decided to go ahead with chemo in conjunction with the holistic approach and I'm pretty sure the chemo won't make him too ill (probably a bit off colour, but nothing like human side-effects)... Hoping so hard that the good stuff your getting into him and the chemo knocks those b*$=@dy cancer cells right out of existance. Look forward to several more years of happiness beside your beloved boy and please, keep us posted...

to Boxa and Bindi :rolleyes: I hope that tomorrow morning you'll wake up to find a happy, relieved, playful girl and a GIANT poo in the garden :rolleyes: It certainly sounds to me like a blockage of sorts and if she can't get rid of whatever it is that is blocking her up, I hope the vet can shift it without having to operate... My boxer is extremely fragile in the intestines and had a very similar thing happen to him soon after I found him abandonned in a dreadful state of emaciation. The vet was worried that he'd "flipped" his intestines but an x-ray the next morning showed nothing It all went back to normal by itself a couple of days later (after some really frighteningly couloured/textured dejections ) Best wishes to Bondi and big *support* hugs to you. PS : She'll be OK, try no to worry :rolleyes:

Silverblue, this is NOT an attack (!) but maybe it was the word "you" which lead us to believe you were "having a go" at Caslero (I did too at first...) Maybe you should have made your very wise comment more generalised, for example : It also serves as a good reminder that dog owners should be desexing their dogs at an earlier age or It also serves as a good reminder non-breeding dogs should be desexed at an earlier age just a suggestion Caslero, I hope your boy simply has too many tadpoles in one of his testes and that it's nothing more sinister... Nonetheless, I too would consider having him castrated ASAP then doing a pathology on the lump, just in case... Maybe if you were really hoping to breed from him, you could look into the cost of freezing some semen before he's de-sexed ??? Please keep us updated.

I won't go into the details but I will most likely face BIG problems trying to get my babes home du to Breed Specific Legislation (restricted breed laws).... About photos, there was/is a FANTASTIC thread whereby hundreds of DOLers have put their photos up, guys and girls AND there is even one of our mystery moderator Troy :D unfortunately I can't find the thread... anyone know where it is ? (it was bought back to life about a month ago and I spent HOURS reading the dozens of pages...) Its amazing how we tend to picture people we chat with and more often than not, they don't look anything like we imagined them to be... MM, did you clean her down with Betadine solution or something of the likes after her "sand-bath" to avoid contamination ? Heres my family... BTW, the bloke is not me ! ETA : woops, sorry about the size... I can't seem to get the photo bit right....

Tis ok Pampa, we love you anyway Careful MM or your profile will be in the OT dating section before you know it :D Thanks Haven, you've just made my day I was thinking the same thing, MM... There are a lot of hungry single girlies out there in doggy land and not so many of the male gender, so a gentle, literate, dog-loving chappy like you will have to watch out ;) I'm an aussie who has been living O/S for 18 years and am hoping to return home soon, but only if they let my girls in.... I'm currently waiting for an answer from AQIS. Fingers crossed. How is the princess this evening (morning for me) ?

Dan, I too am really glad she came out of the sugery OK... I'm in France so I missed the fireworks and the obvious distance is why I'm always a bit behind the news. Taking into account what has been said here and what is available on internet, your girls' tumor is almost sure to be benign ! I just went through a biopsy and cancer analysis scare but it was NOT MALIGNANT, your girl's wont be either, I just know it By the way, I'm 10+ years oder than any of you... ...

Oh no Jodie, don't tell me your Nan is unwell too... Sorry if I missed something but you seem to be going through such a bad patch In all this sadness, don't forget that YOU must stay well... Don't forget that and don't forget to take time out for YOU too ! Looking forward to your next news flash on Ollie dog and his holistic treatments... P.

fingers crossed that it is nothing too serious and that tomorrow night you will be pushing a giant sigh of relief... She seems to otherwise be in perfect health so keep your chin up and reserve her a special treat for after her surgery I'm looking forward to hearing that everything is fine (and I'm sure it will be, positive thoughts do wonders !)

Staffyluv I know you are away for a few days but I'd like to know how is Ollie getting on ? Can you share you the information you have received from the Holistic vets ? Haven has just posted another thread on cancer which is fascinating. I know its not the same form of cancer as Ollie dog's, but every single bit of news may help. Thoughts are with you.

I still think charging $ 12.50 for "after sales service" is a bit rude ! My vets not only keep a tab going for me, but once they only charged me € 50 (fifty euros = 75 bucks) for an emergency stitching up of 2 dogs on a sunday evening at 8.30 pm, antibiotic injection for both and heaps of bandages and compresses. It took us almost 1 hour and a half to patch them up... The following week I was in 4 times for my boxer who was not reacting to anti biotics and one wound had to be opened and flushed... I only paid for the supplementary injections and one medication I couldn't find at the chemist... (in general they send me to the chemist 'cause human equivalents are cheaper there). In 2 years I've popped in for small problems (strange growth on the gum, cut paw pad, broken tooth, shaking the head etc...) for consultations only lasting minutes (because I'd panicked for nothing) and more often than not have never paid a cent ! Hope Jenna is feeling a little better with the medication...

Oh dear Julie Anne, my heart and thoughts go out to you as I had a similar scare recently and lived the worst few weeks ever. I can only offer my thoughts to yourself (and your poor hubby) and my prayers for Jemma. Try to keep your chin up in knowing that so far, you have enriched each others lives to the fullest

HeidiB, I forgot to add that each injection my boxer receives, he comes up in hard "knots" under the skin in the approximate spot he was injected and it takes weeks and weeks to go away... At this stage don't worry about them... You have enough other things on your plate !

My goodness Jodie, I was soooo depressed about my own dogs "cancer" scare I didn't even see this thread through my tears. I'm so sorry to hear that Ollie dog is ill but stay positive, Haven offered me some fantastic information which I thankfully didn't have to use, but if the hollistic option does Ollie some good I'm thrilled... In general dogs don't get sick from chemo... I did a lot of research last week and spoke to the cancer specialist at the "Ecole Veterinaire de Maisons Alfort", (THE dog cancer specialist in France). Maybe if chemo and Hollistic treatments are compatible, it may be worth doing both... Dogsbesotted is right, he could still be with you for ages yet, I've never known a staff. to give up easily. My most sincere thoughts are with you. Hope you find the perfectly adapted medication that will give him years more by your side.

My goodness You poor things ! I too found this thread a wealth of information and are delighted at so many wonderful suggestions. I have a dogo argentino cross (pink skin, known for allergies etc.) and although I've been quite lucky with her, she gets severe cistitis if fed dry food for over 3 days in a row... (needing to urinate every 5 minutes and she passes severe blood clots instead of urine !) Once I let it go all weekend giving her just the regular "spasfon" to ease her spasms and she got a vaginal infection with a pussy discharge which cleared up quickly with anti-biotics. Since then I feed her a "soup" (selection 7 by Royal Canine) which unfortunately is not available in Oz (too low quality maybe ?) which is a mix of cereals and protein "balls" to which I add boiling water . I also add some meat and fresh veg to add taste and vitamins but with this, she doesn't get cistitis / infections at all ! As for cleaning ears, my vet gave me a very cheap alternative... 1/3 ether 1/3 alcohol 1/3 water This mixture is liquid enough to clean and "dry" enough, (ether & alcohol), to avoid fungus from forming. I put this on a wad of cotton that I form into a point (to get in far enough) and clean religiously once a fortnight. Just a suggestion if the purse straps are a bit tight... Good-luck and I hope that her puberty is less painful than her babyhood !

I have some good news for my girl... SHE DOES NOT HAVE BONE CANCER ! Her hard bump is a very rare "nodular fasciitis", which is a growth probably triggered by a trauma... By the way, the vet that biopsied her found that she had a fracture of the eye orbit, most likely the cause of the "nodular fasciitis". Thanks to all for thier support

Oh dear, girl 05, I'm so very sad for you ! Just as a comparaison, all of my dogs have always been vaccinated in one hit, once a year... They get : Distemper, Parvo, Infectious Hepatitis, Para Infuenza, and Rabies all at once. They don't get treated for heartworm because it isn't necessary where I live. I also wormed them the same day with a VERY hefty medication I give them twice a year... As you see, this is a hell of a lot of terrible things injected / administrated at any one time and they showed no bad reaction... It is interesting to note however, that a discussion is raging in europe and the US whether or not to vaccinate EVERY TWO YEARS instead of every single year... Just another by-note, I'm planning to come back to Australia soon with my dogs and I had to have a RNAAT test done (rabies anti-body count) whereby the anti-bodies needed to be at least 0.5 IU/ml. I had blood drawn BEFORE they received their yearly booster and guess what, their anti-body count from LAST YEARS booster was 2.62 for two of them, and 3.46 for the third !!! 4-6 times more than necessary... They would still be over the required anti-body count in two years time, three years after the last vaccination ! This example is ONLY for rabies as it is the only test I have had taken out at this stage, but I agree with my vet who believes that we are over-vaccinating our pets... If this is the case, the whole veterinary history on vaccinations needs to be re-written and your vet was only doing his job, what he learned in scholl and is paid to do. I know you need to blame someone, but I don't think it is fair to put that blame on your vet. It may have been simple coincidence, or simply the stress of going to the vet's that triggered this in your boys heart. We send our warm thoughts and have paws and fingers crossed for him though I know all too well that this is little comfort when you are seeing your beloved boy decline. Rachel XOXOXO

Thanks for your support, and I'm hoping against hope that it's just a bump (she is a very rough player), but I reviewed photos I'd unwittingly taken on the 24th of September, and unfortunately the bump was already there, though less prominant at the time as you will see in the september photo below.... It appears to be growing / spreading since the this initial photo was taken . Paws crossed for you family's old girl too, I hope she comes through OK, sweet old gal

Hello again. So far my vet is fairly worried. We had xrays done on Tuesday which showed absolutely nothing, no apparent growth or lack of density BUT he wants to wait a bit longer... If it grows rapidly he'll open up and take some cell samples immediately. If it doesn't grow, he'll open and take samples when my bank account is replenished. Whatever the case, if it is cancer, the time factor will not change anything. I think it is spreading but I'm hoping against hope that I'm imagining it Last night I dined with a girlfriend who is a vet. I showed her the photos of my girl doggie and she told me (and my heart goes out to you Love my Boxer) that last month she had a 6 year old Boxer in with a similar rapidly growing bump on his spine. When she opened him up to take samples, she told me the boney lump was really flakey, like nothing she'd ever seen before... Well, the biopsy came back positive for Osteosarcoma which is apparently a real problem in this breed. Just after seeing the photo of Talia, she suggested to me that I shouldn't just yet book a plane ride home for her as she may not make it that far down the track. . My girlfriend obviously did not want to distress me, but she is very pesimistic and didn't want to get my hopes up. She also told me that cancers of all types are very frequent in her breed here in France and she is currently treating one such dog with Cortizone for lymph cancer as the owner won't have him chemoed... She's just keeping him out of pain until the owner comes to terms with putting him to sleep. Apparently Osteosarcoma metastases rapidly to the lungs ??? I'm thinking of having her lungs xrayed next week ??? Here's a photo of the bump above her eye... Any positive thoughts ?? PLEASE ??? Or negative ones if others of you have had similar cases...

When do you get the pathology results back ??? Hope he's OK and that it's just a lot of fatty-nothing that was removed

I'll be having probs when I get my family home to Australia... At present I feed them a cheap food "Royal Canine Selection7 " which doesn't exist at home... It is a dry food that you must add boiling water to before feeding, then I add some minced beef to make it yummy (it still had a good protein level though, despite the mushy appearance)... The RC boxer food gives my boxer a seedy tummy although he is very fragile in the intestines due to severe worm damage when I found him starving and attached to a lamp post with an electric extention lead around his neck... Any "normal" boxers therefore may not react so badly... Royal Canine "sensitive" is better for my boxer, but gives cystitis to my Dogo cross (along with ANY other dry food). My third doggy eats anything though the top quality foods, even in tiny quantities makes her gain enormous amounts of weight I know in the long run it's not good, but the only feed that suits everybody is the cheapest one, non-existant in Australia... Does anyone know of a similar type of "soup" that I could feed them once I'm home ???

years ago when I still lived in inner Paris, and only took my girl to the country for horse riding, I never needed to treat her for fleas or ticks... One day i found one on her fanny... sorry, I dont know what it's officially called in english 'la vulve' in french.. I only saw it because she kept licking there and I wondered what was up... She couldn't get it herself = too burrowed in, filthy beast. Please could someone tell me what "paralysis ticks" look like ??? What is tick poisoning ??? What are the symptomes. My friends dog nearly dies of Pyroplasmose (babeosis)= pale gums, lethargy, black pee...) but I don't think that exists in Australia.

I've never needed to wash my pitty type, she just doesn't smell (except her feet with which she religiously holds her dried pig ears.... ) My Dogo cross doesn't smell either but I wash her twice a year just to keep her coat shiny white. The boxer sweats and he pees like a girl so often wets his feet... He smells like dirty socks and has to be washed every month in summer and once every 3 months in winter... They are inside doggies and I too have to save the couch from rotton doggy scent !

Thanks guys but it was the VET who put the "C" word in my head ! They know I'm quite realistic and I'm capable (and have done so on several occasions), to staple my dogs together after fights or accidents, they always have something wrong with them somewhere but this is DIFFERENT a slowly spreading boney lump ... I begun treatment yesterday and it has not improved at all, in fact I'm sure it's bigger again than what it was yesterday I've taken photos to compare in another couple of days and if it keeps growing, we'll be off to do a catscan within 10 days... I hope you are right on it being something else !