one of these days we're gonna set this circus down...

Spud, Spudual, Spuddy buddy, big brown dog.........

Well last night my dad call me around 10:00 ish to explain Spud (his lab) had eaten a large amount of food then thrown alot of it up. Then he started shaking and acting very abnormal. Me being the paranoid person i am (sometimes knowing all the things that can go wrong is worse than not knowing) So i explained to him that i was worried about bloat, intestinal blockage etc etc. So together we decided to go down to the clinic and let me take a couple xrays of spuds belly. Well we got a lot more than we were expecting. At first glance i was relieved to see a nice normal stomach with lots of food in it. So at least he wasn't bloating. Then after a closer look i noticed something in the back of his abdomen that didn't look quite right. So after sending the xray pictures to Dr. Ben via cell phone- he called me back very concerned. He had me ultrasound Spud (granted I didn't go to vet school so my ultrasound knowledge is limited to picking out major organs and some abnormalities) As soon as i placed the probe on spud i knew... Spud has a large mass on his spleen. So since your spleen has alot to do with blood flow if the mass rupture's most animals bleed out in their abdomen. A mass this big can only be one thing. The dreaded cancer. Imagine me on the phone with dr. ben, listening to the horrible news then being the one to deliver the news to my dad, step mom and husband that the faithful, loved family pet has cancer and the outcome doesn't look good. Lets just say it was a long night. So today after closer examination, bloodwork and more doctors opinions things are still looking grim but okay. By the time you usually find a spleen tumor its too late, surgery can be performed but the recovery is hard and the time you buy is typically less than three months. And since so far spud has not shown any signs of cancer (he isn't losing weight, he acts totally normal, he drinks and eats, his bloodwork is perfect) So together we have decided to spoil spud rotten, give him everything he wants, treat him like a king for his remaining time. The episode last night was a blessing in disguise because without the vomiting we never would have taken xrays and found the mass, we would have just lost spud to an unknown cause and i think that would have been more difficult. It breaks my heart because you couldn't ask for a more faithful loving companion for my dad. These two have been each others best buddies for years and years. I can't imagine a trip to Yellowstone without that love able guy in the backseat. Thome is really going to miss his favorite playmate. So for now we are just going to keep spud comfortable and love him as much as we can and pray for the best.