So...I'm feeling a little (a lot) overwhelmed about where to start with this. But I have been helped and supported so much by seeing other peoples' blogs and personal experiences that I thought I would try to make a little blogging time to share ours.
I have been rescuing retired racing greyhounds since about 2003. My first boy was named "Lucky," and we never found out what his racing name or history was. I got him from a women I worked with at my day job at a domestic violence program. The woman had to flee her abusive husband and move into community housing which would not allow pets. This happens to battered women and their pets all the time, by the way. There is info about the link between family violence and pet abuse at http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/abuse_neglect/qa/cruelty_violence_connection_faq.html
Anyhow, I loved my Lucky boy. He had a lot of behavioral issues from not only induring god knows what as a racer, but living with an abusive man. But we loved him so much that he was our "gateway drug" into the world of greyhound adoption. By "we" I mean my mom Mary Jane and I. We share a creaky old farmhouse in Downeast Maine.
We lost our Lucky in a devastating way, but not to cancer. He died due to complications with being under anesthesia during a routine dental scraping. That was my heart-breaking intro into the many medical complications of greys.
About two years later I felt healed enough to let another dog into my life. My mom agreed, and this was our first experience adopting a greyhound through a real rescue program. Our local greyhound rescue is Maine Greyhound Placement Service (MGPS) in Augusta. http://www.greyhoundplacement.com/
That was when we brought Stardom home. We had our first experience of having a dog fresh off the track. She didn't know what it was like to ride in a car, live in a house, or deal with any of the social situations our domesticated pets are used to. But she was the sweetest, loveliest, and smartest girl in the world. We went to obedience class and she did decide to learn sit and stay...feats that are rather rare in the greyhound world. She was affectionate and lovely to everyone, and great emissary for retired racers. Everyone who met her was intrigued by her.
After only a few wonderful years with Starr, we had the unthinkable diagnosis. What we had originally been told (a few months before) was a sprained tendon actually turned out to be the most dreaded diagnosis: osteosarcoma (bone cancer). We were shocked and devastated. Like when Lucky suddenly died, it seemed to come like a lightening strike out of the blue. I couldn't even function and had to take time off from work to do nothing but deal with this horrible crisis.
When you get a bone cancer diagnosis, this giant, scary clock starts ticking behind you every moment. The experts are telling you to amputate immediately, before the cancer spreads even farther. We looked for advise from the head of MGPS and he said he wouldn't put his dog through amputation. He suggested we "feed her steak" and give her lots of love for as long as she was comfortable. But then we had vets telling us how dogs can live happily with three legs, and it was her only chance to live. Under pressure to make a quick decision and unable to face losing her, we opted for amputation.
Amputation turned out to be very hard. She was in so much pain afterwards, whining and obviously suffering horribly. We had the whole floor layered with blankets and we slept there with her, changing her bandages. They told us to expect all this. But she kept bleeding. The whole room reeked of blood. I shudder to think of it even now.
With a sixty five pound dog it is hard to move them around when they are completely unable to assist in any way. But somehow we managed to get her to the vet. They found that her blood clotting ability was hindered in some way. She needed constant hospitalization. So we had to carry her around on a stretcher ourselves, transporting her to our regular vet during the day and back and forth to the Emergency vet for overnights. This was a 40 mile trip each way, and often done during bad weather. It was absolutely horrific for all of us. Starr only lived for about a week before the complications were too much and we had to let them euthanize her. The whole experience was unspeakable devastating. I can't describe what it felt like to get that diagnosis, try to help, and then find that we had just mutilated and caused pain to this beautiful creature whom we loved like any human child.
Again, it took a while to heal. But the impulse to honor a greyhound by rescuing another one is strong. They are such beautiful. loving dogs and the racing industry that they are subjected to is unspeakable evil. By the way, for info on that, I recommend Grey2kUSA. http://www.grey2kusa.org/index.php
About a year and change after losing Stardom, we went to an open house event at MGPS. That was when we met and adopted Sable, whose racing name was Kiowa Greg Champ (champ). She had been named Sable by the director of MGPS, in honor of his own dog of the same name. A black and white dog, she is sleek and stunning with an extra soft and shiny coat, even by greyhound standards. She is larger than most female greys, about the same height and weight as a male.
About two years (a little less) after we got Sable, we saw a hound who was about her age and appearance, a male named Shadow, who had been returned to the kennel. His owner had been a teen who went off to college and the family thought it was better to return him to MGPS. We felt so bad for him to be returned to a kennel environment after being in a home. We decided to take Sable and go meet him. It worked out, and we brought him home. Unlike Sable, Shadow had never raced, but he had been bred by the industry. His industry name was JD in My Shadow.
So, we have lived with Sable and Shadow for a little less than two more years. And here comes the lightening bolt again, out of the blue.
We noticed that Sable began inexplicably favoring her front paw. I at first thought it might be a toenail issue, but clipping them didn't help. We took her to the vet and they diagnosed bone cancer. Again. That was six days ago, as I write this.
Of course, I was devastated. It took me a couple of days just to process the news and pull myself together. I was very angry at the Universe, at everything. Again, I have this beautiful, healthy, and loving dog. And they tell me she has this generally fatal diagnosis.
Again the scary clock starts ticking. They tell us that the cancer can't be seen yet in her chest, so she is still a candidate for amputation. They say that amputation is the only viable course of action to give her a longer life.
We take our animals not only to the conventional vet but to a holistic vet. The other thing about all this is that I am a vegan. I am vegan first for the animals, but also for environmentalism and personal health. I had been toying with trying a vegan diet with the dogs before this, and now I am trying to figure out what to feed them. That's a whole kettle of (vegan) fish that I will delve into in another blog.
Okay, so that is our little intro. I just spontaneously decided to do this blog but in future posts I will get into what various professionals tell me (including spiritual professionals) and what we try for diet, supplements, traditional and non-traditional healing, etc.
I will leave you with the link to a site that I found very helpful as a summary of issues for greyhounds with osteosarcoma.
http://minnesotagreyhounds.wordpress.com/what-to-expect-with-a-leg-amputation/
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