Great News!!

We got a phone call from our vet last night (Saturday night) to let us know the results of her biopsy. There were NO cancer cells found - just a huge amount of inflammation. They believe it was probably caused by some sort of trauma, and that it should go away with time. if not, it can be removed. However, it seems that it has already significantly decreased in size, which is awesome :) We are so thrilled that it doesn't appear to be a tumor, or anything awful like that. Lucy has to stay on the antibiotics that she's currently taking, and we're going to continue to keep an eye on the mass. We're also going to make her a canriology appointment, to confirm that there is nothing wrong with her heart - but that is a lot less urgent now, since she doesn't need surgery right away (thank god!) Just wanted to share the good news :)

Lucy's Health Scare

On the evening of Saturday December 20th, while giving Lucy some belly rubs, I discovered a large mass on Lucy's chest wall, underneath her right front arm (sort of in her armpit area, and ranging down her ribs). We called and made a vet appointment as soon as our vets office opened on Monday, and they saw her that afternoon. They did a needle aspiration biopsy, which was a horror show in itself. They took 3 different samples from the mass - on the 2nd needle, when our vet had taken the sample and was about to put the cells on the slide, Lucy wagged her tail emphatically and managed to hit the needle with her tail, sending it flying (or so we thought....) The vet and I searched for it for about 5 minutes on our hands and knees, and finally gave up. The vet left the room to examine the cells that she gathered, and it suddenly dawned on me the one spot that we hadn't checked....and as soon as I glanced at her tail, sure enough I saw the little blue plastic attachment of the needle sticking out of Lucy's tail. The needle had actually gone all the way through her tail, in one side and straight through the other. I pulled it out because she was wagging her tail like a maniac and kept hitting her tail into the wall, the chairs....and I figured that was pretty painful for her. As soon as I took it out it started bleeding out of both sides like crazy, and of course she kept wagging it. It was like a scene from a bad horror flick, with blood flying everywhere and landing on the walls, the exam table, the drawers. Such a mess! After cleaning up the mess and informing the vet that I had in fact found the needle, she gave me some fairly good news. The cells that she examined were plain old inflammation cells - no strange cancer cells or anything scary. She prescribed the antibiotic cephalexin, and told us to apply hot compresses multiple times daily, to try to reduce the swelling. She stressed that if the mass was not gone by Friday or Saturday, she would want to go ahead and remove it on Monday, because she was worried about what could be causing the inflammation.

Well, come Saturday the mass was still big. It may have decreased in size a tiny bit, but nothing significant. So we scheduled surgery for Monday the 29th of December. I was relieved to hear that since this surgery was considered fairly simple, they would not need to administer general anesthetic, but just had to sedate her. She would be breathing on her own, and would not need to be intubated, which makes it a lot less risky. They would be using a sedative called Domitor, and would be removing the entire mass and sending it to a lab to have a pathology report done it, to see what we were dealing with. I got a call Monday morning at about 10:15 from our vet, saying that they had been forced to cancel the operation to remove the mass - here's where the story gets scary :( They administered the domitor to Lucy, and almost immediately, her heart rate went from a normal 120, to 210. She began experiencing ventricular tachycardia, and then her heart rate plummeted. The vet said that they have seen dogs who experience these symptoms die right on the table of cardiac arrest. So, she immediately administered medication to reverse the sedative, and while Lucy was still out of it, she did 2 quick "punch biopsies" to get a decent sample to send to the lab. She said that although the procedure would have been simple and fairly quick to remove the mass, she was too scared to keep her sedated, given what was going on with her heart. Obviously I agree totally with that decision! So, they kept Lucy hooked up to a heart monitor for the entire day to make sure she was alright. Her heart rate stabilized, and although she had some sporadic and brief ventricular rhythms periodically afterwards, she pulled through just fine and was home with us that afternoon. I was at work when Pete brought her home, and although he assured me that she was fine, I was a nervous wreck until I came home and saw her myself. I was instantly reassured when I came home to find Lucy following her pal Wyatt (our 15 month old buddy who lives upstairs) around the house, trying to steal his chicken strips. Typical.

Our vet said that before she can be put under sedation again, or under any type of anesthesia, we need to bring her to see a cardiologist to make sure that her heart is healthy enough to withstand it. In all likelihood, the awful reaction was caused by a sensitivity or allergy to that particular sedative, but we obviously want to play it safe and make sure before having her anesthetized again for any reason. So, we're waiting for the results of the pathology report, and should hopefully be receiving those today or Monday. Lucy has been acting 100% normal and fine at home with us - wiggling her bum like a maniac, knocking stuff over with her tail, and eating like a pig, as usual. Her mass seems to have decreased in size substantially, and we continue to have her on antibiotics and pain medication. Poor Lucy has bald spots all over her from being shaved - her right front leg where her catheter was, her armpit/chest where the mass is, and a big spot on her back where they had the heart monitor hooked up to her. I've assured her that her hair will grow back, but she has insisted on wearing a tshirt for the majority of the time, to avoid being made fun of by the other dogs.

With any luck, the biopsy of her mass will come back fine, and our trip to the cardiologist will confirm that her reaction to the sedative had nothing to do with an underlying heart problem. Please keep Lucy in your thoughts for the next few days while we do our best to get this all squared away and put behind us!

Here are some pictures of Lucy on Monday night - she's sporting her "Red Sox Princess" tshirt, of course.







Here are some more, also from Monday night. Lucy jumped right back in to her role of "baby cuddler" without missing a beat. Surgery can't keep a good snuggler down. The adorable baby in the pics is Maggie, Wyatt's baby sister.

Dogs + Kids = Cuteness

Tonight we kept an eye on Wyatt and Maggie, the 2 adorable little children of Kat and Eric, our friends/tenants. Wyatt is 14 months old and Maggie is 7 weeks old. The dogs loooove to play with Wyatt, and find Maggie fascinating :) We also introduced one of our ferrets to Wyatt - he likes to stick his fingers in the ferret crate and let them lick his fingers. He enjoyed meeting one up close and personal :) See pics below!

Happy Belated Halloween!

Since we have no human children to dress up, we did the next best thing and dressed up our dogs. Lucy was a dinosaur (with a caveman on her back), Molly was a cow, and Abby got the raw end of the deal....she was a chicken. I promise we didn't keep these on them for very long. Lucy and Molly didn't seem to mind, but Abby was mortified and miserable. I'm sure you can see why! Enjoy :)

The Cats.

Our cats are pretty unique - they are friendly, come when you call them, and even give baths to people on occasion :) We have 4 cats - Cheddar, Linea, Maya and Magic. I'd also like to tell you a bit about Commodus and Maximus, 2 cats that we lost far too early. I'll start with the ones that are still with us.

Cheddar (aka Cheddar Bedder, The Ponch)

Cheddar is a 1.5 yr old orange tiger cat. He is a real character - he likes to give head bumpies and kisses, and will bathe you if you let him. He especially likes licking people's hair. Cheddar enjoys wrestling with the other cats, playin with the ferrets, and cuddling with the dogs. He also enjoys attacking the dogs tails and sneaking into their crates for a little nap. Cheddar has a pot belly that we call his "ponch" - he's a little tubby :) I think he is our biggest cat, though Magic is pretty big too. We adopted Cheddar after losing his brother Commodus. Both were adopted from down in Tennessee, where a friend of ours found them underneath a trailer, orphaned at only a few days old. She bottle fed them and saved their lives. Cheddar is a wily boy - he sometimes plays a bit rough, but he means well. Cheddar is totally unphased by pretty much everything - he loves every dog he meets, and has no fear of any of them, which can be problematic at times!

Linea is a black and white short haired cat, who is about the same age as Cheddar. She was also adopted from down in Tennessee. Linea is a tiny little thing, even though she is full grown. She is our smallest cat. She has a loud, high pitched meow that can be extremely annoying in the middle of the night. Linea likes to use her paw to splash water out of the cats water bowl, drenching the floor. Again, very annoying. She is awfully sweet though, and enjoys being held on her back like a baby, and likes attention. Linea likes to wrestle, especially with Maya - they chase each other around a lot. Linea likes dogs, but is a bit unsure when new fosters arrive - but she calms down within a few hours usually. Linea's name came from a Stargate SG-1 character named Linea, who was known as "The Destroyer of Worlds". It's pretty appropriate for out little bitch of a cat :)

Maya (aka Maya-Moo) is a 1 year old black and white short haired cat. She is larger than Linea, but smaller than Magic and Cheddar. Maya is the friendliest cat I've ever met - she will curl up on anyone's lap, and rub against you for attention. She's constantly purring like a motorboat, and is a happy little girl. Maya adores dogs - she actually made friends with our dogs before she warmed up to the cats when we first brought her home. Maya really likes to cuddle up with the dogs for warmth. We use her to "cat test" the foster dogs, because she is so friendly. She walks right up to every new dog she meets and rubs her head against their nose to say hello. We of course make sure that we have a tight hold on the dogs leash throughout! Maya loves water, and will come running if you turn on a faucet. She also LOVES boxes. She will squeeze into any box and hang out for hours. We adopted Maya through Feline Friends in Salem NH.

Magic is a 2 year old all black cat. She looks like a teddy bear, because someone cut off her ears. Originally it was thought that she lost her ears to frostbite, but they are far too symmetrical and perfectly edged. Magic was found outside as a stray with her litter of kittens, and she was very thin. She is NOT thin anymore! She's quite round. Magic likes attention from us, but can sometimes be wary of new people. But, she adores our friends who rent our upstairs unit - every time they are downstairs she parks herself on their laps. Magic is scared of new dogs, but is not scared of ours. She does not interact with them much, but tolerates them, as long as they are mindful of the fact that she runs the house, and is queen :) Magic was also adopted through Feline Friends.


Maximus (aka Maxi-Moo, Max, or Moo) was our first cat. He was a brown and gray short haired tiger cat. I got Maximus for Pete as a birthday present in April 2007. He fit right in immediately, sleepin with our dogs and cuddling with us on the couch. He was such a sweet, gentle, good natured little guy. Max was diagnosed with FIV at his first vet appointment, and it was confirmed when he was 6 months old. We were told that most cats with FIV, as long as they are kept on good quality food, kept inside, and taken good care of, live long, healthy lives. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case for Max. In December 07, I noticed that he was not acting like himself suddenly - acting secluded, distant, and not seeking out attention. I then noticed that his gums were almost totally white, indicating that he was severely anemic. We brought him to the vet immediately, and were told that due to complications from FIV, that his body was attacking its own blood cells. He was suffering, and rather than put him through days in the hospital when ultimately he had a disease that we could not cure, we had him put to sleep. I held him while they gave him the shot, and told him what a good boy he was. We miss him like crazy.

Commodus (aka Commie) was Cheddar's twin brother. We adopted Commodus because Maximus needed a buddy. When we got Commie he was only about 6 weeks old. Right after we got him, we were pet sitting for a woman with 2 dogs, a dachshund puppy and a, adult Jack Russel Terrier. I don't think I have to go into the gory details of what happened - to make a long story short, we were told that the JRT was good with cats. To be vigilant, we kept the cats in the office, just to be safe. Pete opened the office door, and Commie bolted out to say hi to the new dogs. He ran right over to the Jack Russel, who promptly killed him. Commodus was a wonderful kitten - he adored dogs, and his favorite place to sleep was in the dogs food bowls. He liked to lick Molly's nose until she would open her mouth, and then he would stick his whole head inside her jaws. When we yawned, he would do the same thing. Such a funny little guy. I don't think I'll ever fully get over the fact that I failed to protect him adequately. RIP Commie :(

Below are some pictures of our cats, past and present :)

Maximus and Lucy












Max and Molly





Max and Molly making a porno?



Commodus













Linea and Cheddar





Max, Linea and Cheddar, camping in a dog crate



Linea





Cheddar and Molly



Maya and Magic



Lucy and Maya



Maya







Maya and Molly





All 4 kitties!!



Magic