I copied and pasted this from a site that posted a story about my dog, Zeus. The original link is:
http://www.examiner.com/pet-in-national/saving-zeus-one-dog-s-walk-with-cancer#comment-14858031
Comment on the story if you want, on here and the other site, Examiner.
Zeus pulled and tugged his way through the front door of his new
home, stretching himself to the end of the leash, choking and gasping
for air, the way dogs sometimes do when they're in a hurry.
Tara Frable watched apprehensively as the 100-pound dog and her husband scrambled into the living room.
Zeus
burst into their lives two years ago, when a brother-in-law decided he
couldn't take his both of his two dogs along when he moved to Las
Vegas.
Frable was asked to choose one of them, and she picked Zeus.
With his playful personality, thick, rust-colored fur and soulful
brown eyes, Frable "loved him the first time I saw him. He's absolutely
gorgeous."
She never thought that her time with Zeus would be threatened so soon after she welcomed him into her home.
The obvious question was whether Zeus would be accepted by with T-bone, her German Shepherd.
"I
really didn't think it would work out," said Frable, who lives in
Moscow, Pa. "Since she was a pup, T-bone has been really protective of
me."
Dueling dogs
Dueling dogs
As feared, Zeus and T-bone fought from the start.
The two dogs stood on their hind legs, put their paws around each
other’s necks and locked jaws as they stumbled across the living room in
an angry waltz. One of their worst fights was over an orange cheese
puff that fell on the carpet near the couch. Zeus and T-bone had both
spotted the snack and dove for it at the same time.
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Snarling and teeth bared, the dogs jumped onto the couch and tumbled across it.
"I yelled for the kids to get out of the way," Frable said. "I couldn't believe the way those dogs fought over a cheese puff."
In time, T-bone reduced her disapproval of Zeus to a quiet growl whenever he strolled through her territory.
Weeks
and months passed, and Zeus adjusted well in his new home. His world
was filled with backyard Frisbee games, plenty of toys to chew beyond
recognition, and a family that had found a place in their hearts for
another dog.
Every time Frable walked into the room, Zeus looked up and his tail wagged and thumped on the floor.
The tough transition was over. The greatest challenge was still ahead.
A common diagnosis
In July, Zeus was diagnosed with bone cancer in his left front leg.
A majority of pet owners will care for a dog or cat with cancer at some point in its lifetime.
"Cancer
is the leading cause of death in dogs and cats over the age of ten
years," said Dr. Nicole Ehrhart an associate professor of surgical
oncology at the Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University in
Fort Collins, Co. "It is the second leading cause of death in any adult
animal, second only to trauma."
The odds of getting cancer were even greater for Zeus, a six-year-old Anatolian Shepherd and English Mastiff mixed breed.
Bone cancer is more common in very large dogs, said Ehrhart.
New studies suggest that combining research for human and canine cancer, which would ultimately benefit both.
Luke Robinson of Belton, Texas, began a journey -- 2 dogs, 2000 miles
-- from Austin, Texas to Boston, Mass. last winter in memory of his
Great Pyrenees, Malcolm. He lost the dog to bone cancer at age six, in
2006. Robinson hopes the trip will raise enough money to fund research
to determine the cause of canine cancer.
"It's unacceptable to me that we've known about this for 50 years, and still don't know what causes it," Robinson said.
Signs and symptoms
In
mid-July, Zeus began favoring his left paw. Frable took him to the vet,
but she didn't suspect cancer. Zeus has a strange habit of playing with
large rocks in the yard, and Frable was betting that he had picked one
up in his mouth and dropped it on his paw.
His leg was swollen, so the vet placed Zeus on an antibiotic, to heal
what appeared to be an infection. Zeus began limping. In a few days, he
held his paw up and refused to walk on the leg.
Frightened and looking for support, Frable reached out through Zeus' MySpace page.
Other "dogs" offered words of encouragement, advice and prayers.
After a few more vet visits, x-rays and a biopsy, bone cancer was confirmed.
The news was not a complete surprise. Frable had spent hours online researching the symptoms and treatment for bone cancer.
"When they tried everything and nothing worked, I began thinking the worst," she said.
Her phone rang at 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 29, and Frabel saw the vet's
number on her caller ID. She was afraid to answer for fear of what she
might hear. But she answered, and her heart raced as the vet began
explaining the diagnosis, a flurry of statistics, and treatment
options.
Without treatment, the average life span is 22 weeks.
With amputation and chemotherapy, life expectancy is between six months to a year-and-a-half.
"I soon as I got off the phone, I sat on the floor with Zeus, hugged him, and cried my eyes out," she said.
After much consideration, Frabel decided to have Zeus' leg amputated.
A symbol of hope
Zeus'
MySpace friends held a bandanna sale to help offset costs for his
surgery, raising nearly $900. The bandannas became a symbol of the hope
and support that Frable had found online.
When Zeus had his surgery, she wanted doctors to leave his bandanna on, but that wasn't possible.
The next day, she went to pick him up at the vet and and began writing out a check at the reception area.
Frable didn't know that the staff had brought Zeus out and he was standing right behind her.
She turned around and knelt down to his level, as Zeus lowered his head and leaned it into Frable's chest.
On the way home, Frable took Zeus through the McDonald's drive-through to get a cheeseburger. He gobbled it down.
By the second day, he was playing with toys and running around the back yard.
Frable announced online that Zeus is doing well "living as a tripod."
Generally, the transition from four legs to three is an easy one.
"Since dogs are quadrupeds they can ambulate very well on 3 legs and
they don’t experience the psychosocial trauma of losing a leg," said
Ehrhart. "As long as they feel well and are not in pain, they will lead
active, happy lives."
Hoping for a miracle
Zeus could have as little as six months or as long as two years to live.
No length of time will ever be long enough, Frable said. Yet she is hoping for a miracle.
She scours the Internet for research, looking for stories of dogs with bone cancer who beat the odds.
"They're not too many of them," she said.
About 10 percent of dogs with bone cancer are cured of the disease, said Ehrhart.
Frable still keeps in touch with bone cancer groups online, and is saddened when an instant message pops up, announcing that one of the dogs has died. For now, Frable has a lesson, one of many that dogs teach us, if we will only listen.
Zeus, who lost his leg, met an adversity with courage and acceptance,
and he never let it stop him from having fun, running and enjoying life
-- no matter how long or short it will be.
"It's bittersweet that we got him and I ended up getting attached to
him and he got cancer," Frable said. "But I am glad that I have him,
and I'm happy for the time I have with him now."
This is completely true about my dog. I did not write this story.
