Bad news for Isis :(
June 15th, 2007 Stephen Lau
Those of you who know Wendy and I know that we are crazy about our beagles. We love those stubborn stupid lazy hound dogs even when they’ve cleaned out our fridge, drank my whiskey, and in general done something stupid whenever their noses have led them into trouble.
So we were really bummed today to hear from our vet that Isis’ recent bladder problems are due to a large (2.3cm in diameter) tumour growing just outside her bladder. It looks like she has some sort of bladder cancer.
I picked her up from the vet, took her home, took the rest of the afternoon off and took her out to play and give her treats (to make up for her not getting breakfast this morning)
I have to say I wasn’t prepared for this. I’m not naive, I knew Isis would pass one day, but I expected her to live for at least a few more years (she’s nine). The life expectancy (without surgery) for her is about 200 more days. Given she’s had these symptoms for about a month already, we’re expecting we only have about 5 or 6 more months with our favourite beagle… and whenever I think about that I get choked up a bit.
We’ll be looking into the surgical option, but the vet said the tumour is in a pretty high risk area to operate and it may not extend her life that much. If that’s the case, I think we’ll give her some medicine to ease the pain (the vet said it shouldn’t be bad), and let her live out her remaining days with lots of food and love. (and she will get LOTS of food) We’re officially stopping her training, and she’ll get to lick the ice cream bowl from now on.
I’m pretty bummed out…. I can’t believe how attached I am to that little prima donna. I’m gonna miss her an awful lot.
[tags: Beagles]
4 Comments Add your own
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1.
Glynn Foster | June 15th, 2007 at 23:51
Ugh, that’s pretty rotten news - hope you guys enjoy your remaining days with her.
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2.
Geoff Arnold | June 15th, 2007 at 23:54
Oh shit…. Very sad to hear that, Steve. (I’m emailing you a doggy pic from the wedding.)
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3.
David Comay | June 17th, 2007 at 16:58
Steve, I’m really sorry to hear about Isis. It was always fun seeing her at the office too. I hope things work out better than expected and she’s able to be an active part of your lives for many, many months to come.
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4.
Dave Miner | June 18th, 2007 at 11:54
Steve, that’s really sad, I know from experience how tough this diagnosis can be; I take it they’ve actually biopsied the tumor and gotten a positive pathology report? I only ask because we went through a scare with one of my greyhounds two years ago where they thought she had a cancer on one of her kidneys, but it turned out after surgery and additional pathology to be a renal infarction instead. She’s down a kidney but still doing great. Either way, my best to you, Wendy, and especially Isis.
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