Bad news--the Big C

My vet took as much of the lump and the skin and fat around it as she could. She said it's not the worst it could be but it is a mast cell tumor grade 2 -- 3 is the worst. The pathologist said he couldn't say we got all of it but it looked pretty clean around the edges. Any more and she would have had to take the stomach muscle which would cause a hernia, probably.

The treatment is a mild chemo and prednisone. I thought I would let everyone know the steps of the treatment and about mast cells. I will go see a specialist who my vet trusts completely and we will get all the info about the future.

Meanwhile, because mast cells send out histamines I am to take benedryl twice a day. Mast cells also cause ulcers so I am to take 10mg. of pepcid twice a day. My vet said if you squeeze a mast cell tumor it can actually kill a dog by flooding the body with histamines and they go into shock and can't breathe. Grade 1 mast cells can appear to be 'skin tags' and fool you. Where my lump appeared is rare--usually it's on the side and vets will take the muscle part then.

I am young and strong and my mom will treat me like she always has--like I'm precious.

Here are some pictures from this weekend:

 

 

My mom found a lump--UPDATE

Hi everydog, my mom found a lump on my belly last night and took me to the vet's this morning. We will know a little more this afternoon after my operation. Don't know if it is cancer, might not know right away. Thanks for all the prayers. My mom says I am her heartdog so this is really hard for her.

UPDATE 3pm EST
From River's mom:
River is out of surgery and doing well. The vet cut a good margin around and below the lump and will send it off to be looked at. His bloodwork was very good, all mid-normal except for globulen (?) which was a half a point over normal. That could mean infection only. I will pick him up this evening. River is only 5 and beagles are generally extremely healthy. Cancer is rare which is what I'm banking on. Thank you so much for the prayers!!

Humphrey update

Humphrey had his teeth cleaned, 5 pulled, and also 3 benign (but big) lumps off his back. You can see the stitches on his back in the pictures. He was throwing up at the vet's but has not done so at home. He has a good appetite and is resting comfortably in a cage with a fluffy blankie. The vet thinks he is actually 11 years or older.

Some pictures and video of Humphrey

Still on the planet

We read as we can but my mom hasn't had enough energy to post except on FB once in a while. She says she is sorry but she has had pneumonia and bronchitis and flu and ear problems, plus we have no heat right now. Can't fix it till next week. Oh, we have a fireplace and little heaters plus it's always a ten dog night around here.

Please welcome our new boy, Humphrey. He is not a failed foster like me. My mom offered to take him knowing he was unadoptable (too old) and planned to keep him. He is the first since me--that's a good 3 years with no new dogs. Now fosters--we still have a few of those including Mondo, Mickey and now Lassie the beagle.

Here is Humphrey:

He is gentle and nice, sleeps on the bed. He even stands in the middle of the bed and barks for my mom to get in there and start sleeping. Except he starts like early afternoon. I like him and I don't like anybody much so he really is special. He has really bad teeth and is going for a cleaning on Friday. We have a sponsor who is going to help! Hurray!

We got a new car so my mom can start transporting again. It's a midnight blue pearl Honda civic. Sadly, we couldn't afford an Odyssey this time. Maybe next time.

Okay, my mom says she's exhausted and Humphrey is ready to go to bed lol So here's a picture of me to remember me by:



Bye for now. We really miss everyone.

Labor Day weekend

Hooray! My mom is home for 3 days and the weather is finally so nice we're all hanging around outside in the yard. Meanwhile my mom is cleaning with all the windows and doors open. I guess you could call it Fall Cleaning.

We are doing better since losing Perry but there is a hole in our hearts from his loss. He was a unique part of our pack.

Also meanwhile we have FIVE fosters--three of them beagles:

This is Brie. She is small, like 15 lbs and came with a terrible case of mange. She is getting all sorts of medicine. Very sweet and cuddly with a high pitched shriek when she wants to be picked up.

This is Mickey. Oh, Mickey you're so fine... He is extremely shy. It's taken weeks for my mom to get him to come to her hand. He wants to so badly. He wiggles and wags but still is afraid. Don't worry, my mom will have him eating out of her hand! bol

This is Armondo or Mondo as he likes to be called. He is a super duper lover boy and a pretty beagle, my mom says.

We can't believe someone would throw this beautiful hound away! Boy, will some family be lucky to have him!

Then we have the non-beagles:

 This is Kip, maybe a cattledog mix. He and his sister, Cricket, were found running loose. The rescuers think the other puppies were hit by cars but we got these two.

This is Cricket. They are both hiding on the floor of the Honda. Both are very, very shy but getting better living with our pack.

Bella and Barry beagles gave us this award! It's beautiful! Thank you so much.
Here are the rules for this reward:

1. Thank the blogger that gave you the reward.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass the award onto 15 bloggers that you have recently discovered and think are fantastic!

4. Contact the bloggers you sent the award to, and let them know about the award.

We have thanked our friends. Thank you! 7 things about me, hm.

1. I still have a bump on my bone from the break I suffered several years ago before my mom got me

2. I am a very quiet beagle now. I used to run constantly but the couch is my friend now.

3. I'm not fond of all these puppies that keep coming through our house. I make sure they don't hurt my mom.

4. I am a rough coat beagle with longer wavy hair.

5. My birthday is Nov. 11. That is my gotcha day so my mom decided it was my birthday too.

6. I am in love with Georgia but she is one crazy b*t*h

7. I sleep under the covers all night at my mom's feet.

My mom would like to give this award to all our friends. Everyone deserves this beautiful award.

Here I am in the sun. The grass is back. I like to sit and bake and contemplate nothing. It's a good life.

RIP Perry 1993-2010

River has kindly allowed me to post about Perry.

We lost Perry yesterday. He was 17.

Fifteen years ago I got a call from SOS Beagles about a dog that a man was threatening to shoot. His dog would not hunt--sounds like a joke but in the South that is a serious canine crime. Poor Perry. He was always a bit of a shrinking violet. I picked him up, intending to foster. I adopted him out once but it didn't work out. I didn't want him to suffer another big change like that so I kept him.

Last Wednesday he started throwing up and refused to eat--always a horror with hounds who dearly love food. He spent the next day at the vet's getting fluids and when I picked him up he was feeling so much better. But he went downhill again immediately.

Almost all of my beagles have died of kidney failure--beagles are so healthy in general but they are prone to cataracts, neck problems and kidney problems in old age. Sometimes it's been chronic, sometimes I have only days to say goodbye.

I kept him with me in the bed all Friday night then we sat out on the back deck in the sun Saturday morning. This is the way I like to say goodbye--to share our last moments together in the sun. And I am so grateful when I have a chance to do exactly that.

He will be remembered for his soft and staccato aroo!aroo!aroo! when he wanted attention or his dinner. A gentle and shy boy who will be greatly missed by his family.

Run free, sweet Perry Berry. One day we will meet again, thank goodness.

Long hot summer!

Will it never end?? This heat is terrible and it still promises to melt sneakers the rest of the week. Look at this dry yard. No mom needs to mow for a long time here.

Hi Everydoggie! We have been busy--my Mom was on vacation.

She went to visit her brother in Wisconsin and my cousins.
Shiloh who just turned one:

and Cesar who is now two:

My mom says they are very nice animals, extremely well-bred.

She visited the Biodomes:

One dome is a desert, one is tropical, one is a riverbank garden

Here's a picture of a river where my mom went to a German festival:

And look who we had come visit. This beautiful red dobie. He was such a total goofball that my mom called him Wall-EEE. And guess what??!! We found his family! He was picked up running back & forth across a highway where he would have died. He escaped their yard one day and they put up millions of color flyers for him. They gave the rescue a nice reward but the best part was finding his family.

Here I am in the hot, dry backyard.

Here is our old Miss Daisy. She will be 21 this October. My mom admits she is looking kinda ragged. The vet just diagnosed her with glaucoma and she is now blind. She gets eyedrops and tramadol. We didn't know that glaucoma can be like a migraine so we are keeping her painfree. There aren't many options for her, we are sad to say, and we are holding her close as long as we can.

Here I am inside. Whew! It's a little cooler. We can't wait for fall!

Happy 4th everyone!!

Happy Independence day!!

We are very busy here. Very busy! And it's a good thing. My mom is finally getting started on renovating our whole house. It will take several people a year or more but the Big Room is the first. My mom will show before and after pictures when she has after pictures.

Sat. morning my mom got up at at the undogly hour of 5 AM to help transport a little coonhound girl named Lovergirl. Here she is:

She has some scars on her nose. Nobody knows what happened to her. Look at those big feet! She is going to be huge. She is going to a good home. 

We like what Khyra's mom does when she dedicates her transports in honor of someone. We dedicate this transport in honor of Annie who we lost last year--a little black and tan hound my mom had for 15 years.

This is a baby named Rosco that belongs to a friend of my mom's. She said Rosco is really sweet and gentle.

The lawn has been mowed at last--but it's so dry now it looks like a desert.

There are prickly weed stems so I have to be careful where I put down my paws. But we will have a BUSHHOG (sounds scary) come scrape up the land this fall and put down some nice soft Kentucky grass (I don't think there is such a thing as Georgia grass).  That will be one hardworking hog.

We have some new fosters coming in a couple weeks. My mom will make movies of them.

Have a great week everyone!

Oh, no! Not Cocoa

We can't believe that he is gone. Cocoa. Too young, too soon. My mom is crying for him. We loved reading about him and his brother Barley. It's just not fair!

Fly free, Cocoa.

It's been a while!

When my mom goes on vacation she really goes. Then she needs a vacation from the vacation...

Over Memorial weekend we were left all by ourselves to celebrate the holiday--except for our favorite petsitter who came visit us and play with us.

Meanwhile my mom went north to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She had a collie puppy named Gilroy with her from a shelter in Ga going to Castaway Critters in Pa. Here is Gilroy. He stayed with us for a week. Everybody really liked him. And he is already adopted!.

She packed him up and took him with her. Not fair! Except I hate to travel... Anyway my mom left at noon and at 2pm she picked up 2 beagles in Knoxville. They were traveling to NJ to SOS Beagles.

On the road thru the Va. mountains:

My mom stopped in Staunton, Va at a dog friendly hotel she found through Bringfido.com--a great site if you like to travel. She said all the doggies were very good and slept well. Here are the beagles in the hotel. This is Clover. She had to sleep smashed up against my mom the way I like to.

This is Stitch. He had a whole bed to himself.

Here is Stitch making his bed. He is a funny boy.

Then my mom went on the the Jersey shore for a beaglefest! She only had a few pictures from that. Then she walked on the beach.

She came home on Sunday and found out our pitbull baby foster had been adopted! Hurray!

Here I am with pictures from my mom's new camera (she admits she dropped her old phone in some dishwater, not on purpose!):

I'm giving her the eye because I'm tired of pictures and want some kisses!