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By: Julie Walton and Blue Belle the Canine Contributor
Can We Rescue The Rescue Dog Who Rescued Us?
Blue Belle, the rescue dog that rescued us, now needs to be rescued again. Blue Belle has been a special member of our family for over 12 years. We adopted her when she was one year old. We traveled from Idaho, across the state to Wyoming where we were told a no-kill shelter had the perfect dog for us. She had been found in a dog pound where some uncaring family threw her away where she was to be euthanized. The loving people of Lucky’s Place saved her and put her up for adoption. We were so happy when we found our new furever dog.
Blue Belle has had some health issues, but she has been a loyal companion so the vet visits and expense of caring for our fur baby is definitely worth the cost.
We Hate Cancer!
We are talking about canine cancer. Can we rescue our precious dog from this awful disease?
In 2024 we discovered a lump on Blue Belle’s back leg. The vet said to keep an eye on it and when it grew quite a bit in a few months we knew to make another appointment with our vet. He performed surgery the next day and we returned to the vet clinic several times for wound care. A sample was sent in to the lab and sadly we learned she had cancer.
We learned a new term. MCT, Mast Cell Tumor. We had no idea what that was. But knew it was serious. Our vet gave us several options. One option was to make an immediate appointment with an oncologist and he gave us the name of a local oncologist he recommended. I called her office right away and was pleased to get an appointment within a few days.
We both began researching mast cell tumors in dogs. And realized it might have been a good idea to have pet insurance. We have had several dogs and never thought to get pet insurance. The information was overwhelming. But when we met with the oncologist at West Vet Animal Specialty Center, Dr. Hume, we were slightly put at ease and reassured. Her way of communicating what this cancer is and that her goal is all about the dog’s quality of life, helped us calm down a bit. Now we could figure out a way forward.
We decided to go ahead with some additional tests. That same day they shaved her belly and did an ultrasound. They also took a sample of the lymph node and sent that to a lab. The lab report showed that there was some MCT cells in the lymph node. So we decided on a cancer therapy to treat her at home with a drug called Palladia.
Because this is a cancer drug, I wore chemo gloves when dispensing it, putting it in a pill pocket along with another medication to help with nausea. This treatment worked well for 7 weeks and the oncologist saw improvement.
Sadly, we started to see a problem. Blue Belle didn’t want to eat. This lasted for several days and she was looking weak and panting a lot. It was on the weekend, so we got in touch with our regular vet. He checked her out and gave her a shot of the medication to help with nausea and sent home some medication to stimulate her appetite and encourage her to eat.
We got in touch with the oncologist Monday morning and she requested we bring Blue Belle in. They determined she had pancreatitis, an uncommon side effect of Palladia. This meant that we had to stop using the Palladia drug. And use a different medication to treat the cancer.
Into the animal hospital ICU she went where they took amazing care of her. We visited daily, encouraged her to eat and took her for a short walk. One amusing thing the doctor told us about was how Blue Belle was acting while in the ICU. One of her “cell mates” was a husky dog who was quite vocal. In fact Blue Belle learned to howl from this buddy. Now whenever we leave for a few hours and she is waiting for us to come home, as soon as we pull up the driveway and into the garage she starts howling. Her friend, the Husky, taught her well.
Finally on Friday she was able to come home. We wanted her to be extra comfortable, so we bought her a new Memory Foam Orthopedic Dog Bed.
We kept in touch with Dr. Hume several times. But after a few days Blue Belle had a setback. She had diarrhea, which led to a urinary tract infection. So back to the clinic where she had more tests and an IV medication to start fighting the infection. We brought Blue Belle home that same day with a few additional medications.
Now the trick was getting her to eat and getting her to take various medications. We watched several instructional videos about pilling your dog. I even ordered a pill popper or pill pusher. They seemed useless. She is such a smart dog, if I did manage to open her mouth and get a pill in with cheese or a pill pocket, she would hold it in her mouth forever and finally spit it out. I got better at outwitting her. But the best advice I received was to include a pill in peanut butter on a spoon and hold it up in front of her so she will lick off the peanut butter with the pill. That worked amazingly well. We bought some soft baby spoons and we are still using them today to dispense her pain pill for her arthritis. One note of warning, make sure the peanut butter is safe for dogs, no xylitol. We used Justin’s Classic Peanut Butter, which we found at our local Albertsons and Fred Meyer grocery stores.
Canine Cancer Research and Support Groups
Isn’t the internet a handy tool! As soon as we heard the words Mast Cell Tumor we started our research. There are many resources online from Universities and Veterinary Care Specialists. At times it got to be a bit overwhelming. Another resource I found useful is a couple Facebook Groups for people caring for dogs with cancer.
Quality of Life
The Quality of Life Scale, was created by Alice Villalobos, it helps pet caregivers decide whether to continue their pet’s end of life care. Bring this to your vet to talk about your pet’s quality of life and discuss ways to improve your pet’s score if needed. A score of 0 is poor quality of life, and a score of 10 indicates an ideal quality of life.
The scale considers the following factors:
- Hurt
- Hydration
- Hygiene
- Happiness
- Mobility
The question is do bad days outnumber good days.
One Year After Cancer Diagnosis
So, how is Blue Belle doing one year after detecting the cancer and starting treatment? She has been going to see her oncologist vet on a regular basis. At first it was once a month, then a couple months between visits. And the last visit things were looking stable and we scheduled a visit four months out. She has had some problems with UTI infections. So there have been a few extra visits to her oncologist to keep on top of that.
The oncologist vet and her assistants have been amazing. Blue Belle calms down when Dr. Hume comes in to check her out. She has had an ultrasound twice. They have to shave her belly for that procedure. And she has had some blood tests and other tests.
Although the Palladia was a big factor in shrinking the size of her lymph node, it could not be used again due to the risk of another pancreatitis attack. She now takes a small amount of prednisone daily along with her pain meds and some supplements. At first I really kept track of her bowel movements and kept a chart for the oncologist. When I told her my concern about soft stools, Dr. Hume recommended an anti diarrhea edible clay called RX clay. It really did the trick and we give it to her once a day with her food.
When we were first told about the mast cell tumor we were so stressed out. The vet said she may survive a few months or longer. It depends on the treatment, every case is different. If we could afford it, it would be best to consult an oncology vet. I was surprised when we were able to get into see the oncologist vet so quickly and once we decided on the treatment, we started to feel like we could be strong and we could get through this.
Blue Belle is almost 14 years old now, she is still hanging on and takes care of me. She doesn’t see very well now, so we actually bought some lights on Amazon to help her see at night to get to her water bowl. And we go out with her in the dark using two bright flash lights.
One last thought . . . Some of the medication is very expensive. But our oncologist vet told us we could purchase some of the meds through chewy.com and some of the meds through our local pharmacy. The vet will send a prescription to their pharmacy. Also, Dr. Hume mentioned that it can save us money to use prescription coupons such as Good RX for pets or Singlecare.
I made a medication chart that included each day of the month on the left side and at the top titled each column for each drug, also listed the dosage, frequency, and the purpose of the drug. Then each day I would note the time I gave each drug. Dr. Hume and her staff loved my charts and put them in Blue Belle’s file. I also noted any changes in her actions and a poop report at first, now her poop is under complete control. She is a star!
Here is a list of some of the medications that helped our dog.
- Palladia – at first we got it from the Oncologist vet’s pharmacy, then we ordered it from Chewy.com. Palladia was given three days a week. It did help, the vet saw improvement. We had to stop using it due to bad side effect, pancreatitis.
- Maropitant also known as Cerenia – at first we got it from the Oncologist, then we ordered it from Chewy.com. This was given only on the days when she got Palladia, given for nausea.
- Entyce – appetite stimulant – ordered from Chewy.com
- Mirtazapine – also appetite stimulant – ordered from Chewy.com
- Nutramax Proviable Probiotics – ordered from Chewy.com or Amazon
- MOVOFLEX Soft Chews Hip and Joint Support Supplement – ordered from Chewy.com or Amazon
- Gabapentin used for pain. Prescription sent to our local pharmacy.
- Prednisone used to treat MCT Prescription sent to our local pharmacy.
Our family is still hanging on. We love Blue Belle so much. We will always be so thankful for the Rescue Dog who rescued us.
AMAZON FINDS
Our dog, Blue Belle, is a cancer survivor. To help us pay for her various medications our family has become Amazon Affiliates. You can click on this AMAZON LINK to find some goodies for your fur family. We appreciate your support.
Blue Belle has been such a faithful companion.