Dealing with the new’s of Bone Cancer.

                   It’s more than that and to be honest it is a little selfishness on my part ……….as I also did it to try to get my head around the LOSS of my Best Friend. Even though it has been just over a year since Fizz passed, I still have not recovered and if I’m honest I don’t think I ever truly will. 

                 The idea that I would try to be a place where, when you are given the new’s that your Pet is very very ill. That people will have somewhere to come to and this is my main focus at this time. I want to start a big family here, so when people are feeling down they can come here and just write their feelings down and know that everyone here is there for you, and here for the very same reason. You can read up on thing’s that have worked for other’s, and what they would suggest you try and how to best help your Pet. Or maybe you will just want to try to make sense of what is rolling around inside your head and heart, and believe me I know how that feeling goes.

                I think that there is one thing that we all have in common ?? that’s LOVE and Love for our Pet’s as you would not be here without it !! It’s also something that I tell all my new Puppy Families which is the belief that we know our own Pet’s better than anyone !!! Better than the neighbour down the street and even better than your own vet !! It is this knowledge that make’s the decision making process your’s, so don’t be pressured into anything. 

               Always go with your Gut instincts, It is your gut instincts that brought your dog to your vet …….. didn’t they ?? You knew that your pet was ill before anyone and it’s this knowledge that is going to make you survive this. I know when I got the new’s everything that I thought about or knew about the   BIG  C  WORD  !!!   CANCER 

           Came flooding into my head and the first thing I wanted to do is stick my head under the covers and pretend it wasn’t happening. Then after denial come’s total panic and then heart break and eventually come’s OK let’s sort this ………….. ! 

            So the let’s sort this is where you must be now or else you would not be here !!  You would still be hiding under the covers and pretending it isn’t happening, so what now how do you deal. Well my way of dealing was trying to find everything about Dog’s with Bone Cancer and just got myself more confused ?? This is where I could have used a Sounding Board such as this, firstly you know your pet and you know how much they themselves can cope with. 

                     This is one of your deciding factor, do you think you could cope with a Dog with an Amputation ?? 

                     I will go into ways to help when your dog has an amputation in another page. Now my Fizz was a Rottweiler so I needed to be sure that her personality, would be suitable to deal the testing and treatment. This is where your own knowledge of your pet come’s into play ?? 

                       There is a lot to cope with and with Bone Cancer the main starting point is the Pain ?? Now removal of the leg will remove the PAIN part so that is a good place to start, You have to take into consideration of what breed your dog is, Which leg is affected as with Fizz if she had, had Cancer in one of her front leg’s then as a very heavy boned Rottie, she would not have been able to cope with a front leg removal as her weight was mainly in her chest ??

                       No matter how much you love your dog the pain part must always play a bigger deciding factor than your own personal feeling’s. This again is where the bond you have with your pet come’s into play ? your pet will let you know when they have had enough. Do not let the thought of how you yourself would cope with an amputation as animals do not have the Hang Up’s that we as human’s have !!     They do not worry about the emotional side, they don’t feel sorry for themselves they just deal with it and HOP on !!

                       I will explain through my Fizzly as to what I mean !!!   The night before Fizz was due to have her leg removed I was in complete emotional wreck !!! I sat in her bed with her next to me and I was just holding her, I started to cry with tear’s rolling down my face, Fizz got up and literally sat on my lap facing me all 10 stone of her !!! She went up to my face and started licking my tear’s away !! She then looked me straight into my eye’s and it was like a Slap in the Face !!! She looked at me eye to eye and it was a Look of            

       For God’s Sake Mother ??? Pull Yourself Together !!! 

                  That’s when I knew she needed me ………… simple as that !!  but she didn’t need a complete emotional wreck, she needed someone who would be there next to her to hold her up when she fell. But more than that I knew that together  NO MATTER WHAT  we would deal. Nothing would come between us not even Bone Cancer and together we would cope with all thing’s and we would do it really  WELL !!

             I would never claim to be a Psychologist or an expert in any field ??   but I do know how it feels and I have lived through the decision’s that run along side of this terrible illness……….. Fizz had the Amputation and she had 3 Bout’s of Chemotherapy and even though she fought and stayed with us a lot longer than any Vet’s Prediction. Even though we did lose her in the end her Spirit and Zest for life never faltered and she passed when she decided she had, had enough and I don’t think anyone could give or ask more than that, from their Pet and their best friend.