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Originally Posted by mpp33  I took him to another vet this morning. The doctor immediately looked concerned and asked a ton of questions. He took my concerns seriously. They did two x-rays and a biopsy.
Baxter has cancer.
They're sending the tissue samples to a local university for a pathologist to diagnose the type of cancer cells. He said that it could be benign and they may amputate the single toe. Worst case scenario is that it is a malignant melanoma, which has a 50/50 chance of survival. The prognosis for a malignant melanoma would be around one year of life.
The x-rays revealed that the cancer has not made it's way into the bone, indicating that I caught it in its early stages.
Needless to say, I'm a basket case. Baxter is my life. I've taken every precaution to keep him as healthy as possible. We go hiking and biking together, he eats a wide variety of the absolute best foods on the market (all grain free too!). I take him to Doggie Day Camp when I have to work long hours. I've had him for I guess about six years now and I'm 26 years old.
Baxter had pretty much been left in a cage for the first year of his life. The woman who had him said they're not sure if he'd ever even walked on grass. I spent the first few years socializing him and exposing him to positive experiences. He was very afraid of and reactive to other dogs. It took him a long time to trust even me.Every weekend we went to PetSmart and worked on pairing other dogs/people with warm bites of hot dogs. Six years later he is pretty much a normal dog and he likes playing with other dogs. He is my life.
Please keep us both in your thoughts.
These are a mix of old/new pictures. Don't worry, he has a car seat. |
Wow, I was so hoping it wasn't....I'm sorry. I know right now your overwhelmed with emotions that few others outside YT understand, it will take a few days to adjust to this new news. Buuuuutttttt remember, it is because you have been such a good owner that you were able to notice and take quick action. For your age thats commendable. Thanks to you your Baxter was diagnosed very early and will probably be 100% cured! I am proud of you and grateful that you are such a wonderful Yorkie owner!
Keep us posted as you go along, we are here for you. Take some time and go play some games in the arcade area, join people in the Off Topic thread, there are good reasons to be here too! Welcome to the family You (whats your name?) and Baxter!
He is a cutie!