Our Best Friend

We have an Airedale terrier named Calli and I have spoken of her here on my blog a few times before.  She has a sweet temperament and even at seven years old, she still has a puppy like attitude.
Her vet sent us a reminder to get her booster shots and kennel cough vaccine done.  I booked an appointment and she went in for a check up.

She had been experiencing some issues to do with her skin and coat but since Airedales are known for this, we figured it was breed specific.  A test or two later, some talk about her food intake and daily habits and we believe she has Cushing's Disease.   No real need to treat her for it but she will be on a low calorie diet from now on.

A lump was more of a concern and after extracting some suspicious cells via a fine needle, it was decided to remove the lump and send away for full report.  So this past Thursday, Calli had surgery to remove the lump. Seems it was growing more inwardly than out so it was a larger mass than first thought.

She was very woozy and obviously sore when we brought her home that night. We gave her the pain meds and she stood for an hour or so until she was comfortable enough to lie down.    Both Hubby and I were up several times to check o her and she slept well from what we could see.   The next morning, she got up and walked like nothing had happened!    Dogs are amazing really...

Oh, she's napping more and for longer but she is back to her old self and wants to run and play.  That would be a big NO and so we have to keep things low key and encourage rest, with small walks on a leash.

The other big thing is no nipping at the drainage tube and leave the darn stitches alone!  She does not deal well with the plastic cones and generally bashes everything in sight trying to get rid of it. We opted for a onesie outfit.   Cotton with a touch of lycra, its a modern fashion statement for dogs!

After finding that she got her big nose and teeth in and under the leg opening and nipped off her drainage tube, we had to opt for an additional barrier.    This picture shows two nighties "MacGYver'd" (the art of fashioning a quick fix based on what is to hand, as shown in the TV series MacGyver.  The name of the show is now a verb!) on either end and cinched off while her onesie was being washed.    Now with the drain tubes removed we use the onesie by day and an extra nightie on her back end by night.

Classy huh? Hard to get a sneaky snout back there now!

Its going to be a long ten days to two weeks before the stitches come out!

We should have the pathology report by mid to late next week. *fingers crossed*

Edit August 1st, 2017:

We are feeling happy and much relieved! Phone call just came in from our vet: Pathology report has confirmed it was “stage one soft tissue carcinoma” but there are clear margins…. meaning they are happy they got it all. (15% chance of reoccurrence.) Now Calli must have check ups every 6 months over the usual annual visit. Big sigh of relief! Calli showed no signs that the tumour bothered hurt her. It was found by us as we brush and groom her... bathe her. We showed it to the vet and it was dealt with. So, handle your dog and cat often and get familiar with their normal bodies. It could save their life!