Simply Sunday and Picky Pooch

Here we are another weekend about to go by! This week was an abbreviated one with the New Year holiday and all but the 3 work days were very concentrated if you know what I mean! 

Ozzie had his first chemo pill with an injection of that Elspar drug. He was fine afterwards even thought the vet warned he may feel a little "punky" afterwards. His biggest side effect is from the steroids since we increased his dosage. It makes him huff and puff and pant more. For a dog with compromised breathing apparatus this is tough at times. Ozzie's new bothersome behavior though is his finicky appetite. I have perhaps hopelessly spoiled him by making special food for him and he expects it every time! This morning I refused to make scrambled eggs for his breakfast and I just served him up his kibble. He immediately turned his nose up at it and walked away. I guess if he gets hungry enough he will eat it?! 

We are gong away soon for a ski vacation and Grandpa and brother will be taking care of our boy and I am worried about his eating. I guess I am going to have make a big batch of the chicken meatballs and freeze them, so he will have something special to mangia on!

"Really? You expect me to eat dog food!?"

I am adding in Ozzie's meatball recipe in case you have missed it, or interested in making them for your own picky pooch!

Have a good week ahead all!

Ozzie's Chicken Meatballs

• Two 16 oz packages of ground chicken
• flat leaf parsley
• turmeric  ( healthy spice that dogs can consume safely)

Chop up parsley and add to meat along with a generous sprinkle of turmeric. 

Make small size balls, little bit smaller than a golf ball.

Get a big pot of water boiling on the stove and drop in meatballs. Should take no longer than 20 minutes to cook through. Remove meatballs to cool. Break up and mix with their favorite kibble.

Store batches in freezer bags for future meals!

Finally Friday and Feeling Fine

This Friday morning finds Ozzie feeling somewhat better. The swollen lymph nodes have disappeared and he seems a little less lethargic! The steroid has him drinking more and may have peaked his appetite to new ravenous heights! (Or is that just the normal Oz?) The other side effect to the med is that he has to pee more. Ozzie woke up at 5:00 AM this morning. We figured he had to go so we led him downstairs. At that time a thunderstorm was rolling in with lightening and drenching rain. "Great!" we thought, he won't want to go out in this mess. I fed him quickly and we went out through the garage. It was teaming at that point. He finally went into the yard and pooped. Hey! Where is the pee part of that poddy time? I went back upstairs to the bedroom and discovered his  blankets were wet! Oh well. 


Ozzie must definitely be feeling back to good since he was actually chewing on his Nyla-bone, something he hasn't done since he has been diagnosed with this disease. I guess the swollen nodes prevented him from enjoying his chewing time. We hope that there are more feeling good days ahead!

To all of you who have followed and worried with me, a grateful thanks to your support! Have a wonderful weekend all!

Finally Friday and What we Feared

Let me start with this is a difficult post and you will soon see why. The other day we went for a recheck on Ozzie's ear infection and we asked Dr Tracey to look at something that we have noticed for a while under his neck. We felt it several weeks ago and wondered what the heck it was. It was at least a size of a golf ball in the middle of his throat straddled by two other lumps on either side. We thought perhaps we missed this before because of all the fat and rolls around his collar. Maybe it was his thyroid or do dogs have Adam's Apples? Could it just be a case of swollen glands that would be accompanied by some kind of kennel cough? We did ignore it for a while but were going to make a point of showing it to the vet on his recheck visit. When Dr Tracey felt it her face instantly showed her concern. She felt Ozzie's back side too and said "This isn't good!" "I don't want to alarm you too much but this looks like Lymphoma." That fear in the back of my head that kept nagging me that this was bad was right! She suggested that we take blood and aspirate the lump to confirm her diagnosis. As they took Ozzie into the back room to do the test my husband and I stared at each other in shock. He was only with us for 3 years this is not fair. 
All of Ozzie's lymph nodes were enlarged, under his jaw and behind the knee. He had no other symptoms except he has been a little more lethargic than usual and stopped chewing on his Nyla-bones. Chemo would be the way to go to give him some extra time. Most dogs respond well suffering little of the ills that humans do from it since the doses are not as strong. This could give Ozzie a year or so. With no treatment he could be gone in 6 weeks. As we left the vet's office she said that the results should be back from the lab fairly quickly and then we could determine what kind of treatment would be best for him. 


So today we found out that he has high grade lymphoma which needs to be addressed sooner than later. We were given some treatment options to think about and we will wrestle with what is the best course for Ozzie. Treatment will start as soon as next week. I will keep you all up to date on Ozzie's progress. I know that this will beat him in the end since there is no real cure, but we will fight the good fight as long as we can!

Lymphoma in Dogs