We Are Going to Battle For Our Dog’s Life

Walk into our home and you will see that there is a majestic creature that owns the house. No, I am not talking about my wife. Rather, a well-cared-for and very well-loved dog. Toys are scattered around the living room like a toddler has taken over the residence. There is no hiding it, we spoil our pup in any way we can.

Cynder, a Deutsches Demokratische Republik (DDR) German Shepherd, is four years old and full of attitude, a stealer of daddy's socks, endless amounts of energy, a certified tactical fur missle, and the light of our lives. She is the protector of the home, cuddling queen supreme, and quite the comedian when it comes to facial expressions. In early December, she was acting off. We couldn’t put our thumbs on exactly what was different, but something was up.

Cynder began drinking much more water and with the intake of that much fluids, that meant she also had to pee quite a bit. After having an accident in the house on a Thursday afternoon, we knew she needed to be seen. Maybe she had a urinary tract infection or something else we couldn’t see.

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Thankfully, we were able to get her in quickly to be seen. While we were in the vet’s office waiting for the veterinarian to come in to see her, I saw it. There was a bump on her butt right under her tail. It wasn’t there when we bathed her about two weeks ago.

“Poor puppy,” I thought to myself after spotting it while I was sitting on the floor at eye level to her butt. The vet came in and I instantly told her about it. The vet said that it was more than likely an impacted anal gland. Overall the vet visit went as well as it could. She was healthy, fit, and she looked good. We took the antibiotics and anti-inflammatory prescriptions home and administered them as instructed.

Fast forward to Monday, December 23. I booked another appointment again as the bump on her butt has not gone away. Before the latest vet visit, I administered medication to help make her relax and chill out. Off to the vet we go again. The veterinarian thought it would be a good idea to lance the bump with a blade and inject a syringe into it to see if that would help in aiding drainage. Except nothing came out.

With the advice of the veterinarian, the next step was to get a tissue sample via a biopsy. We schedule the biopsy for Thursday, January 2. The biopsy meant that she would need to be sedated for the medical staff to successfully get a sample. This is where things start to unravel.

There was some type of miscommunication when it came to the procedure. The appointment was initially set up as an aftercare visit, so no biopsy was going to be done that day. While we were at the vet’s office, they thought it would be a good idea to get bloodwork done prior to putting her under. I agreed. Cynder went back to have her blood drawn and the appointment for the biopsy was set for first thing the very next morning.

A little worried at this point, I took her home. My wife and I went about our night as normal and went to bed a bit early as I had to leave a couple of hours before I normally do to drop the dog off for the procedure the next morning. Friday morning comes and as I am getting ready, I get a phone call from the vet’s office. I missed the call as my phone was in the other room.

As soon as I saw I missed the call, I called them back. The phone rings and rings for what feels like an eternity. The doctor answers the phone. As soon as I heard her voice, I knew something was terribly wrong. She tells me that the bloodwork for our German Shepherd shows an abnormally high level of calcium. Due to this, they could not sedate her for a biopsy. The level of calcium in her body also was a very high key indicator that she had cancer. The next step was to do an ultrasound of her abdomen.

I kept my composure as best as I could while I was on the phone. As soon as I hung up, I lost it and broke down crying. Now, my dog had never seen me act like this before, so she freaked out and started to jump on me and bark like crazy as I was telling my wife the news we just received.

For those who do not know, a cancer like this for a dog that is only four years old is quite rare. Almost unheard of, actually. The preemptive diagnosis is perianal adenocarcinoma, also known as anal sac cancer.

Later that afternoon, I took Cynder to the vet again. This time we were far more worried. The vet tech takes our dog back to the area to have the ultrasound done and we wait in silence. The uncertainty and the worry made that room feel suffocating and unbearable. Some time goes by and Cynder comes back into the room and the vet follows moments later. The news that came from her mouth was shattering.

The mass appears to be large from the ultrasound and has spread to her lymph nodes. My wife and I look at each other trying our best to keep it together. We are then referred to a veterinary oncologist. We both decided that we needed to take the soonest appointment because we couldn’t bear to deal with the unknown.

This afternoon, we took our beloved dog to the oncologist in Boulder. A very nice, quiet, and peaceful place called Treeline Veterinary Cancer Care in Boulder. Doctor Karen Oberthaler saw Cynder and she was nothing short of compassionate, kind, and caring to both us and our dog. During our consultation, we spoke about the cancer, the prognosis, and treatment. To gain further insight as to what we were all dealing with during this time, we opted to have x-rays done. Dr. Oberthaler gave us a handful of options during our consultation. One of those options was an infusion to lower Cynder’s calcium levels. Rather than giving her pills that would cause her to drink and pee more, we decided that the infusion would be the very best option for our lovable four-legged friend.

WE ARE CHOOSING TO FIGHT OUR DOG'S CANCER

While we do not know for certain how the cancer has progressed in Cynder, we know one thing is for certain. We are going to fight until we cannot fight anymore. As all three vets that have seen Cynder in the past few days have said, this is just “bad luck” for a dog as young as she is.

I have had a lot of time to reflect over the past four years of her life with us and all I can think of is “What did we do wrong?”. The fact of the matter is, we did nothing wrong and it is just a case of bad luck.

One of the many options that Treeline Veterinary Cancer Care gave us is surgery to remove the mass and lymph nodes. These surgeries will have to be done in one area of her body at a time. First, the mass on her butt, then the removal of lymph nodes. At this point, I believe this is what we are going to do. However, we need to know the extent of the spread of the cancer and we will know more when we have the results back from the X-rays in the next day or two.

I promised myself that I would protect my pets at all costs and we are going to do that. Part of me also feels selfish to put her through the surgery, but we have to try. As I am sitting here writing this, the tears are welling up in my eyes knowing that the day will come when we have to make the ultimate heartbreaking decision to let go. We do not want to let go yet. She is too young and she has so much to experience. We do know that we will try our very best to exhaust all options to give her the life she deserves.

We cannot and will not put her through torture and pain for the sake of keeping her around for our pleasure and company. If the prognosis is bleak after the surgery attempts, we know we have to let go. As you can imagine, this has been the worst whirlwind of events in the past few weeks. Especially during the holidays. I almost feel like I am drowning at this point.

Both my wife and I have been fortunate not to have cancer touch our lives directly through a pet, until now. We do know that so many people have endured what we are going through right now at this very moment. We feel your pain and it is excruciating. From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry you have gone through this ordeal. You are not alone and our thoughts are with you and your furry friends.