Sadie

We became aware of a dog with a huge tumor hanging off of it. I sent some volunteers over there and they spoke with the man about his dog, Sadie. He said that he was taking her into his vet and had an apt. for early the next week. I went by a week later and met Allen and his beautiful Doberman, Sadie. She had a huge tumor hanging down and it looked like it was ulcerating, etc. She was thin and looked pretty bad. Sadie is 9 yrs. old and Allen has had her since she was 3 months old. Allen had another dog named Zeus and he looked very good.

Allen told me what his vet had said which was that he needed to test her for heart worms and if she was positive, he would have to treat the heart worms first and then try to take the tumor off. I told him that I disagreed and that I would like to take Sadie to the Humane Society of Greater KC. Allen agreed and we set it up for a couple of days later. When I went to pick up Sadie, I had a talk with Allen about the possibility of having to euthanize Sadie, that maybe she simply couldn’t be helped. Allen asked if he could follow me over there and speak with the vet as well and I said, “Of course”.

We went to the Humane Society and met with my hero, Dr. Taylor. She was willing to operate on Sadie and try to remove the tumor, but had no idea what the prognosis would be. We didn’t know if we were dealing with cancer or what. It was definitely a fast-growing piece of tissue whatever it was. Dr. Taylor told us that we couldn’t worry about the heart worms now, that the tumor would kill her before the heart worms would if we didn’t do anything. After much conversation, lots of questions and prayers and good wishes, Allen signed off on the surgery consent form and they took Sadie to surgery shortly thereafter.

Sadie was on the surgery table for more than an hour and she did just fine. Dr. Taylor slowly cut away at the tumor, separating it from Sadie’s body. It was a long, slow process but Dr. Taylor kept at it. She was able to remove a 5.5 lb., 6 inch tumor from Sadie. She had many, many staples closing her very big incision. Finally, that thing was off of her.

We brought Sadie down to COH that very evening so that I could watch her closely. Sadie and I had many late nights together! This entire thing was very hard on Sadie, needless to say. She’s an older dog with severe heart worms and that was a huge tumor. She slept a lot, didn’t have much of an appetite, and basically laid on her bed all day. I knew she was getting up, though, because I would come back in in the morning and she would’ve peed and pooped in the room. We had her on pain medication  and antibiotics. Sadie was pretty lethargic and not feeling well. I took her to my vet because Dr. Taylor had gone to Joplin to help with the tornado animals. He gave her a shot of B-12 to boost her up a little bit and stimulate her appetite. The next day, Sadie’s cloud started lifting and she seemed to be a little better. She’d be sitting up looking around when I’d go in , etc.

Allen called last Friday and asked if he could come and see her. Of course he could-it was his dog! Allen came down and visited with Sadie. He said his other dog, Zeus, missed her terribly and Zeus wouldn’t eat, etc. Allen finished up his visit and left. We decided that I would hang onto Sadie for the weekend and see where things were at the following week.

After Allen left, I began working in my office. I started hearing barking coming from upstairs. I couldn’t imagine which dog it was, but I didn’t think I’d heard that bark before. finally,  I realized it was Sadie! After Allen left, Sadie barked and barked and barked for 10-15 min. I felt like she wanted to be home with Allen and Zeus. It really broke my heart because she truly wanted to have gone with him.

I kept Sadie Saturday and she was a little more improved. Sunday morning I came in and she was more alert, etc. I decided to call Allen and see if he’d want to come and get her. He was so relieved when I called hmi. He told me that he had wanted to call me Sunday morning really bad about Sadie but he thought that he was bothering me too much about her. Not at all! I knew that Sadie wanted to go home. Allen said he’d be right over and we helped him load Sadie up and get on her way.

Allen and I will stay in touch about her heart worm treatment, her spay, etc. Sadie still has a difficult road in front of her, but we will just gradually get her through everything. Many, many thanks to Dr. Taylor, her tech, Coleen, and the rest of the staff at the Humane Society of Greater KC  for taking care such good care of Sadie and giving her a second chance at life.

I spoke with Allen this morning and Sadie is doing well. She’s an indoor dog and has started eating well again. Zeus and Sadie were very happy to see each other and now Zeus has started eating again as well.

This was clearly a situation of someone being over-whelmed and unsure about what to do. I am so thankful that Chain of Hope got involved with this situation. I don’t think Sadie would’ve survived if the other vet had tried to do heart worm treatment first.

Thank you for all of your donations and support. It’s because of our fantastic supporters like you that we are able to help dogs like Sadie. I will keep you posted on her. Please send prayers and good wishes Sadie’s way.