Staffyluv

Hi Anne, Very quiet. He does not appear to be ill and I have had to make his low carb diet, also low fat just in case it was a bit of trouble with his pancreas (vet suggestion)... He wants to go for a walk, poor little lad just sits at the door waiting for me to take him. I am giving him a bit of rest after being unwell and in hospital but will take him for a small stroll tomorrow early while it is cool. Thanks for thinking about him. Hope all is well with you Jodie

I was wondering how you were going too. Hope it all stays clear for you

I agree Moops, our vet is definitely one in a million. I know you are right but it is another surgery - on the one hand it will remove the cancer but on the other, I hate putting him through it... It will be done, OH and I talked about it last night and as Ollie is otherwise well, there really is no reason not to do it... His MCT is still in remission according to the blood work that was done this week - so that is BIG plus for us. All his other organ levels are fine - it was just the tummy upset this week, than dog... Thank you Helen - how are you holding up?

I have to agree with laffi here - the Malaseb works wonders but make sure you dilute it.

He is home. Very quite and still not eating much but had a nibble on some BBQ chicken... He is sleeping on the lounge inside at the moment - I hope he picks up a bit for a tiny bit of dinner (only going to give him some pumkin, rice and chicken breast - just a few tablespoons will do). His toe has to be removed because it is another type of cancer that apparently can spread quickly, so a decision needs to be made. The vet seems to think it will be fine and that he can handle it. I don't know if it is the right thing to put him through any more.. But if it is not removed the vet says that it will become painful and I don't want that to happen either... I would really like to know why my boy seems to get all these things wrong - it just breaks my heart...

Hopefully it will be nothing at all - don't worry til you have too. I know it is hard but the dogs pick up on our stress... Good luck at the vet tomorrow...

These days I probably use a lot more turkey than chicken - although if free range chicken is cheap (and woolies has it really cheap sometimes), I will buy that. I like roo for Ollie too... Not a big fan of pork or lamb for Ollie - seem to be too fatty and upset his stomach. I guess our pooch's are like us - what suits one, does not necessarily suit another

I just called the vet to see if he could come home and he has to stay again tonight as he still won't eat. I am going up first thing in the morning to see if I can get him to eat something.

I gave Max 3 M&M's the other night. Don't mean this to be a stupid question, but is this best avoided? I mean, can he have a couple of M&M's, or should he have no chocolate at all because it will just encourage him? I never see dog chocolate for sale anymore. Are they still around much? Chocolate is like adrenalin to dogs - pumps the heart rate right up and can be very dangerous. Also does damage to the liver (because it is toxic to dogs)... Best to avoid all chocolate - it is NO good for dogs ever.... If you feel they are missing out buy the dogs choc drops (they are carob) and give one of those as a treat... But they really don't need it. Better to give a bit of apple, carrot, melon, or some sweet fruit as a treat..(not grapes though)

Never a dull moment around here is there

A quick update: So far he still has not eaten anything but the vet said he is bright enough. So I have taken up some chicken and pumpkin to see if he will have a go at that. The blood work that was done inhouse all seems good (except for a kidney enzyme that indicated that he was dehydrated but we already knew that). The other tests won't be back for a day or two but if he eats what I took up and keeps it down and is still bright later this afternoon he can come home... Fingers crossed

I love these threads. For the record my Stafford is fed fresh foods but his are cooked because he is on an anti cancer diet - so no raw bones (and no cooked ones) but plenty of organic meats and a very small amout of veg (usually pumpkin/sweet potato and zucchini/spinach). He also has cottage cheese, yoghurt, flax oil, vitamin C and other supplements. As few carbs as possible because carbs feed cancer

Thanks all, I am going to leave it til around 11am to call and find out how he is. He is having full blood work done today and was on a drip overnight, hopefully he is going to be OK but I won't have him in any pain - I will make that decision before it gets to that... I feel like crap today, I am so tired - I hardly slept at all because I could not hear him snoring on his bed beside mine... Fingers crossed

Just an update the old man is in hospital tonight. He has come down with some stomach bug and can't keep water down, so is dehydrated and needs the drip tonight.. The pathology came back on the lump on his toe and it is a different type of tumour - a round cell tumour. It means removing his toe and that will be the end of it... I really need time to think about everything...

Ollie broke a molar in half years ago (chewing on a cricket ball) and had to have it removed, from memory I think it cost around $500 at the time..

LOL, just imagining Jacko having a ball in the strawberry patch - I know your pain (We had to put our strawberries in pots and he still manages to pick the fruit off before we get any).. So glad to hear that he is doing so well...

Does it look like the hair is standing on end? If so, that sounds like an allergic reaction.. Posting a pic like persephone suggested would be helpful

So do I Moops... I have everything crossed that it is just an infection but H actually looked worried when he was talking about it and normally he is pretty clinical when it comes to this stuff...

I feel so bad right now. A few days ago at the park I stepped on Ollies back foot and although he yelped at the time, there was no bleeding and he kept walking like everything was OK. Well yesterday I noticed that his toe was swollen and red so off we go to the vet today. Samples were taken and looked at and the vet wants to send them away because he thinks it may be another type of tumour in the nail bed - not MCT... I so hope it is not... I thought his toe was swollen because I stepped on his foot but the vet seems to think that it is just a coincidence that I stepped on it and now this 'tumour' thing is there... Will update when we have more news and the results of the pathology is in....

Yep, Ollie was always hungry before he got is thyroid meds too.. Good luck with him JM...

Just checking the palliative care thread and thought I would pop in and wish you all the best again...

We did both together. I would recommend both. The chemo to fight the cancer and the holistic supplements to hold them in good stead while they are fighting with chemo. Please note that chemo for dogs is NOTHING like chemo for people. They don't get sick or lose all their fur. Vets cannot give dogs as much chemo as doctors give people because vets cannot or do not do bone marrow transplants when the chemo damages the bone marrow (like it does with humans because we are given such high doses). Our lad was given 12-18 months back in October 2005 and he is still here and he still has MCT - currently has 4 tumours but they are not active.

This is a big one. When Ollie was younger he started to put on weight and every vet visit I swore on my kids heads I was cutting his food and he was eating less because he seemed not to be hungry. The old lady next door was feeding him over the fence while we were all at work (no wonder he never wanted his dinner)... Then when he got cancer, the chemo damaged his thyroid and he put on about 6kg and was starving and thirsty all the time until they worked out what it was. Now he is just 4kg overweight from little exercise and sleeping all day Get Gizmo's thyroid checked.

Are they going to remove the mass? Even though it is harmless some can grow quite large enough to be an issue with movement or other bodily functions... We had to have a large lipoma removed from behind his front leg years ago because it started to interfere with the way he walked. Same again late last year from in front of his back leg...

Ah you have staffords - I think farting should be inserted somewhere into the breed standard. Never met one that doesn't become offensive