I Am SO Glad I Found This Website!

[CJCinTX]

Late last month I found small BB-sized bumps on the belly & chest of our 9 1/2 year old furbaby, Muffin. Our vet said we needed to wait until she was no longer in heat & have them removed. We made the first surgical appointment we could (last week) & she required a full-mastectomy on her right side. She will have to have the same thing done on her left side when she's recovered. She has an incision that goes from above her front leg to her back leg on her belly. Amazingly, the day after her surgery, she was up & literally acting as if nothing had happened! She's been being her crazy/normal self since.

I have not-so-patiently been waiting for the biopsy results since last Thursday. During my hand-wringing & nervousness, I started Googling & found YorkieTalk.com. I honestly would not have made it through any of this without this website & it's members. I found another family here going through the exact same thing that we are & it made me feel like I might pull through. In the meantime, I've been reading all the stories, both sad & happy, about all of your beloved four-legged companions. I've poured over many of the fabulous photos people have posted here & laughed & smiled more than I thought I could. Doing this has filled a lot of my nervous waiting time.

Hallelujah, the vet just called & her biopsy came back with a very low grade malignant cancer that the surgery will more-than-likely take care of. She will require the left-side mastectomy & close monitoring for the rest of her life, but no radiation, etc. I honestly have never cried so much in my life. I'm sure when my husband gets home, I'll do it again!

I realize now, in 20/20 hindsight, that we could have probably spared her this horror if we'd had her spayed. When we first got Muffin, she was so tiny & wasn't going to be around other dogs, so I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I hope that anyone who is debating about having their Yorkie spayed will read this & give it serious thought. Believe me, you do NOT want your furbaby to go through this. Thankfully, it seems our story is going to have a happy ending, but it could easily have gone a different way.

Thank you for providing a forum where a Nervous-Nellie-Mommy could find like minded Yorkie Lovers! I've discovered so many wonderful new ideas by reading this website. Please keep Muffin in your prayers...her stitches come out on the 19th & she'll probably have her second surgery early in January.

Happy (& Healthy!!) Holidays from Muffin & her Mommy, C.J.

[Akina]

I'm glad to hear your Muffin will pull through this difficult time. I have a 3 months old and I already decided to have her spayed when she is old enough. Well there were no question about it from the beginning. I am not planning to breed her so why put her through the heat??? I had 2 female yorkies in the past and both were spayed. They both didn't have any health problem.
My prayer is with you and Muffin!!!

[Bnot]

I think it was your story that made me want to go ahead and have the spay done when I did! At that time, I knew I didn't want to breed her, but was so afraid of loosing her. She got her spay yesterday, and is doing fine today.

Will keep Muffin in my prayers, and light a candle.

I'm so glad she will be ok! I know you've probably sweated bullets worrrying about this.

[RoxyJosMom]

Welcome to YT and I am so glad Muffin is doing so well. We had RoxyJo spayed at 6 mos. after learning as much as we could, pro and con, when having puppies. And as much as we wanted one litter of puppies, we are far too inexperienced to risk putting Roxy or any puppies in danger so we opted for the spay. She did wonderfully and is healthy as a horse at 9 mos. I hope your post will make other inexperienced moms, like myself, reconsider breeding for selfish reasons. Our little furbabies health comes first. Prayers are on their way for a speedy recovery for Muffin and hugs for you both to get thru this tough time.

[ChestersMom]

So glad your furbaby is going to be okay! And, welcome to YT. It's a great place, full of info, warm people and an escape from the "real world." Keep us posted and be sure to include photos!

[rox626]

I'm glad your Muffin is recovering. We had a big yorkie years ago. Like you my dad thought spaying was unnecessary as she would never be unsupervised in a yard and thought that female dogs got fat after spaying. This was back in 1975 and information wasn't available like there is now, let alone groups like this.

Cecily got really sick and she was diagnosed with pyometra.
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/pyometra.html

She required a hysterectomy and I don't think she ever really recovered from the whole ordeal. A year later she started failing and we had to put her to sleep. After she stopped eating, within in a week she looked like a skeleton with a head on it. It was the saddest thing, but we had to let her go. This time around, I had Debbie spayed as soon as she was old enough. I wasn't about to let this happen to another dog.

Stories like these need to be shared. People need to be educated so they don't lose their dogs needlessly.

[red98vett]

ALL THE BEST to you and I hope she pulls thru all this with flying colors....I'm so sorry and sending get well wishes to Muffin and hugs for you too....that's so scary

[barbg402]

I am so glad Muffins prognosis is good. Keep giving her lots of love and tender care. Hope she recovers soon!

[CJCinTX]

I just wanted to say "thanks" for all your well wishes & support! I was tending to Muffin's incision today & was thinking about how helpful everyone here has been. It still makes me shudder to look at her stitches...the incision is about the length from my wrist up to my elbow...but knowing that the surgery will hopefully take care of things, it's a different day today!
Muffin's Nurse, C.J.

[cj125]

Hi CJ!
Welcome to YorkieTalk! As you've seen, this place is a world of information. It was only after reading about about spaying our females (on YT) that I realized just how important it was to have it done - especially if I wasn't going to breed. I grew up thinking it was like "sterilizing" if we neutered/spayed our babies. I "thought" it was only natural to let them breed - at least once. And I'm sure that's why we still have so many animals in shelters. I really didn't know just what could happen to these little girls if they weren't spayed. I have YorkieTalk to Thank for that. Thank God there is a YorkieTalk and the people who make it what it is. It's sharing their time & wisdom that has helped soooo many people. Thanks for sharing yours.

Prayers for you and Muffin