Twice Bitten!

"Is it playtime now, Secretary?"

"Do you want to see Scarlet play bitey face?"

" Ok, I'l l show you. First, I bite his head off um,nom,nom"

" Ump...grr...grrmp..Sometimes I get pretty work up about it "

"He ends up looking like this"

"Now, its Jappy's turn"


" Ump...grr...grrmp..Sometimes I get pretty work up about it "

"He, too, ends up looking like this"

"Everyone is tired- Me and my chew toys. Good night"

Its me Scarlet,
doing a guest bloggie

So heart breaking!

We feel so bad for these doggies. If only we could hug them...

Monster shrunk!

The Secretary read about Connie's plea for help at Dog-tracker.com, an online forum for dog lovers (where she met the Animal Doctor). Connie, a school teacher from Valenzuela City, didn't know anymore what to do with her dog, Buba. Poor Buba was captured by Animal Control when she escaped from her house one day. Connie pleaded at the Animal Control people to release her dog, but they took Buba to the Pound anyway.

Connie bailed Buba out but when Buba returned home, something- a monster, maybe, thought Moymoy- started to grow in her rear. For six months, it kept growing and growing like it had a life of its own. Connie sent a picture of the "monster, maybe" and it sure looked scary! Buba would bleed all over their house and antibiotic treatment did not help her. There were only two veterinary clinics in their place, and none of them were interested in Buba's case. Someone even suggested at Connie to just surrender her dog at the Pound where Buba could be put to sleep forever.

The Secretary immediately told the Animal Doctor about Buba, and after working her ingenious ploy to persuade the Animal Doctor, the Secretary replied to Connie's post at Dog-tracker. The Animal Doctor had agreed to offer his professional service and the clinic's facilities for free, but Buba must come over to our clinic so the Animal Doctor could personally examine the "monster, maybe" growing in her rear, determine what it was, and how to kill it.

Connie was overjoyed. The difficulty of transporting Buba all the way from Valenzuela City to our veterinary clinic in Greenwoods Executive Village, did not dampen her resolve to have Buba treated. It would take them three hours, on a rented vehicle, to reach us. Connie managed to get her whole family's support. They trooped to our clinic to bring Buba and to visit her during her confinement.

Finally, the Animal Doctor found out what was growing in Buba's rear- Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumor, click on the link if you want to know more about what is also called "TVT". Buba must have gotten it during her imprisonment at the at the Pound because it can be transmitted through mating, sniffing, any form of touch!

The Animal Doctor's choice of treatment was Vincristine, a chemotherapy agent that "exerts its antineoplastic effect by binding to the tubulin, thus blocking mitosis." ( These are very big words, thanks for the help, Mr. Google)


The Animal Doctor carefully administers the Vincristine, if it accidentally spills and touches the vein, it will cause serious chemical burns.

Buba had good appetite, and was a very brave girl during her stay at Greenwoods Pet Clinic.

She stayed with us for almost a month because she had to undergo chemotherapy weekly for three weeks.

Finally, Vicristine shrunk the TVT monster.

Buba is now home where she is being taken good care of by her mom.

Picture taken by Buba's Mom

During her confinement, Buba underwent several blood tests and the results made us all sad. She had elevated Creatinine and BUN even before she was treated with Vincristine. The figures even went up after her chemotherapy. She took home medicines to treat her kidneys, but it would be difficult to monitor her condition now that she is far from us.

Connie, sent us a text message to report that while Buba is still not as active as she used to be, she is eating well. Connie is happy for the time she has with Buba, even though she does not know how many weeks or months it will last.

She shared this beautiful prayer for Buba:

Lord, I entrust all who are dear to me
to Your never-failing care and love,
for this life and the life to come,
knowing that You are doing for them better things
that I can desire or pray for.
Amen

Note from the Animal Doctor: Not all cases of TVT have happy endings. One dog developed anorexia, persistent vomiting and became recumbent on the sixth week of treatment with Vincristine. Despite being effective in the regression of TVT, Vincristine has toxic effects. The cumulative adverse effects of Vincristine and the long standing duration of TVT on the dog may have led to his death. The study concluded that there is a need for effective management of the patient during and after Vincristine treatment to avoid death from toxicosis or other causes.

Girl bits gone!

My sissies Woody and Bambi were still feeling woozy when these pictures were taken a day after the Animal Doctor removed their ovaries, fallopian tubes and uterus through a surgical procedure called ovariohysterectomy, a.k.a spaying.

Woody

Bambi

Just like me, Woody and Bambi used to be unwanted animals. When the Secretary rescued and eventually adopted us, she vowed that our offspring will never suffer the same fate. And by that, she meant we will never have puppies of our own. Sad, but true, the Secretary does not have very much money and will probably miss more than just her lunch with more of us to take care of.

A word from the Animal Doctor: Spaying, just like any other major procedure, has various risks. The animal could bleed uncontrollably during the operation, not wake up from the anesthesia, or suffer an infection on the incision wound. In addition, potential health problems have been associated with spaying and neutering such as "increased risk of prostatic cancer in males; increased risks of bone cancer and hip dysplasia in large-breed dogs associated with sterilization before maturity; and increased incidences of obesity, diabetes, urinary tract infections, urinary incontinence, and hypothyroidism"
Although we strongly support spaying and neutering pet animals as an effective means to prevent unplanned litters, diseases such as pyometra and other forms of cancers , and modify certain behavioral problems, we agree with the AVMA that the decision to have your pets undergo such procedure "requires the application of science and professional judgment to ensure the best outcome for veterinary patients and their owners".

The Secretary and I have discussed the pros and cons of spaying, and decided that under the circumstances, it is a must for our rescued pets.

Woody's incision wound

The Secretary thought Betadine it would make Woody's wound heal faster, so she applied, umm, poured Betadine over it. That's how things started to turn bad, the Secretary almost had a breakdown. For some reason, Betadine dissolved the stitches and penetrated Woody's muscles causing an allergic reaction. The Animal Doctor had to restitch Woody, but it did not work because Woody's abdominal muscles were all sore. The Animal Doctor had to bring Woody all the way to Las Pinas to his friend-mentor, Dra. Perlie who took over repairing Woody.

Bambi's incision wound

After a week, Bambi and Woody were all healed!

Thank you very much, Doc Perli, for stitching Woody together.

I'm pretty scared because I am next. The Animal Doctor said I will have my pre-anesthesia blood screen as soon as I am through with my heat cycle.

We're back!

Grrr, I can't believe how many times I've said that. In case my blogging buddies missed me, here's a proof that I did not hibernate to Siberia ( where Mr. Googles said I could escape to because my tail is about to combust- it is so hot these days).

I had been supervising the construction of our doggy pad ( well, I was feeling generous and allowed the Secretary to break-open my piggy bank so the roof of our Mimosa house was also repaired).

Our pad was built in the front yard, right outside the peeps dining room to ensure that I still get to smell all the yummy food even if the Animal Doctor kicked us out of the kitchen ( for a minor infraction of pooping and peeing all over the place everyday??? ). The flooring consist of ceramic tiles and the roofing consist of insulation foam tucked underneath galvanized iron sheets.

The entire ground in our front yard was originally topped with ceramic tiles, but the Secretary had to ask the Builder to remove the tiles in one area because I kept slipping from my own pee on the floor. Opps, I wasnt supposed to say that. Anyway, we are all happy with the concrete floor, especially the Secretary who said, "Yay, now I don't have to clean it every thirty minutes!"

Here we are enjoying a lazy sunday afternoon.

My sister Trudis who is a real princess in her previous life- maybe- refuses to lie down in the hard but refreshingly cold floor.

Inside the kitchen, our sister Scarlet is trying to look cute so the Secretary will take her out to play bitey face with us.

While our half sister Pussy O' Wossy could not care less.

We miss our friends, especially Charlie, our friend from Mandaluyong, who said he misses the Secretary. The Secretary had been reading your blogs but kept the smiles and giggles all to herself.