Well, for this of you who don’t know, I have a German Shepherd, Maggie, and she is going to be 12 years old on October 20th. For us, she’s way more than “just” a pet, she’s a part of the family, just as much as any human is. Well, she had been a bit lethargic the last couple days, so we scheduled an appointment with the veterenarian, because she was due to have some things checked anyway and has had colitis before. Well, today she’s a lot better and is acting like herself, so I feel kind of silly when we bring her in.
Well, we describe how she’s been acting, and the doctor looks her over, and then examines her gums, says that they’re pale, and frowns. She gets a syringe, sticks it in her abdomen, and it fills up with blood. It appears that Maggie has massive internal bleeding, probably caused from a tumor on the spleen rupturing. This is almost the exact same way that our previous dog died, at the relatively young age of 8. She suffered from massive organ failure, and by the time we got her to the vet, it was already too late. (We never even got to say good-bye to her.)
The vet tells us that she has to perform emergency surgery to stop the internal bleeding or Maggie will die over the weekend. We are warned, however, that the doctor may find that the cancer has spread throughout her body, in which case there’s nothing that could be done. Well, the doctor comes out to tell us what she found much quicker than I had expected. (Apparently she spent more time sewing Maggie back up than the surgery itself!) She removed the spleen and stopped the bleeding, and the cancer did not seem to have spread. She even showed us the spleen, and you could see where the node had burst and you could see others on it. (I’d never realized how large the spleen is!) All in all pretty much the best case scenario (considering the circumstances) but Maggie will need constant care for the next couple days at the animal hospital. I must say that even though she’s had to stay at the vet overnight a time or two before, she’s never been gone two nights in a row, so it’ll be weird not having her around for a few days. Still, the more time passes from the surgery, the better her chances are of recovering. She may be the dog, but she’s a part of the family, and the fact that we almost lost her today (and still could) is though.
Phew, that had to be my longest blog post ever, by far. Well, I’m tired, and I’m going to bed now. (I hope everything made sense.)
I hope your dog gets better> i know whats its like to worry about your dog Ive lost 2 german shepards in the past year My shepard meisha i had for about 6 years she hated everyone els except me she wasnt mean or anything it was just she only tolerated others but she really adored me. The sendond shepard was named harvey I got him from the animal shelter in poor health But he was the sweatest god you could ever meet. when I only had him for a few days i took him up to visit my mom with my kids, I went out for a bit and she was wrestling with my kids the dog didnt really know who she was but senced she wasnt a danger but didnt like her wrestling with the kids. He gentally jumped up on his back legs and just pushed my mom on the floor as tpo not hurt her and held her on the floor till he knew my kids were safe. German shepards have to be the smartest dog around. I guess thats why they so easily become parts of the family