A Dog's Life

About two and half years ago I made the decision to break down and let my kids get a dog. I had been without a pet for some time. I lost several pets right in a row and it just seemed like too much. Having to make the decision to put an animal down. When to know if their quality of life has been passed by the amount they are suffuring. I couldn't stand going through that again. The kids really wanted a dog though. And I made a decision. I decided that to choose not to bring an animal into our lives simply because I was afriad of having to say good-bye to it. Well, that didn't make a lot of sense. To miss out on all those years of fun and love because you would miss them when they were gone. It is kind of crazy. So, I changed my mind and said yes. The girls really wanted a Boston Terrier.

I worked through the Boston Terrier Rescue group and ended up adopting Cabernet Calloway. A 7ish year old dog rescued from a high kill shelter in Texas who was residing at a foster home in New Hampshire. Cabernet's name had been shortened to Cabbie by the foster family. A name that has stuck with him since. Cabbie is not a picky fellow and quite frankly couldn't care less what you call him as long as you are following up his arrival with a snack. Cabbie is a good dog. He really doesn't bark. He sheds very little. He cleans the floor with such vigilance I have almost given away my broom entirely. He sleeps every night under a pink and purple butterfly blanket on Alexa's bed. Aside from a desire to eat any piece of food that is not kept under lock and key, he is incredibly low maintenance and asks for very little in life.

Cabbie had a check up on last Friday. It was his regular twice a year (because he is considered and old dog now) check up. I mentioned to the vet that he had this odd bump on his rear leg. She checked it out and used syringe to draw some cells out to check later. She also noticed that he had developed a heart mummer. She called me later and said that the bump should be removed as it is the type of growth that can turn malignant. The catch being that to sedate him to remove the lump he needed to have the heart murmur checked out to make sure the sedation would be safe. We went today so he could see the dog cardiologist. The good news is that Cabbie has a very low grade heart murmur and should be fine to have the surgery. Although the leaky valve causing the murmur will continue to get worse as he gets older there isn't anything that we can do to stop it. They recommend a low sodium diet to slow the process. I swear you could see Cabbie cringe as he is already on such a strict diet now, there isn't much more you could take away from him.

The bad news is that Cabbie has a tumor on his heart. The tumor is common in breads such as his. It is most likely benign. It is possible that it will never grow as it is very small right now. It is also possible (more likely even) that is will grow and over time cause him large problems for his heart. This combined with the murmur mean that in the next 3 to 5 years Cabbie will likely develop congestive heart failure. That is a good amount of time. It is long time in dog years. It is still hard to think about. Having the vet give me a list of symptoms to watch for over those years makes it feel a bit like living with a time bomb. You never quite know when it will go off. It isn't something that I plan to tell the girls much about until I need to. Alexa is very attached to Cabbie. Just this morning she had a birthday hat strapped to his head and was leading him in a parade through the house. She will know when something in her life will change. Until then...
there are a lot of sticks to chew.