Shar'rai's Follow up

We just went back today for follow up x-rays and they pretty much confirmed that she has bone cancer. We have two options - both of which mean we have to cancel the vacation to Nevada and the Northwest that we were planning. First option is we control the pain until she becomes too bad and we have to put her down, the vet estimates that to be about 4-6 months. The second option is to run a bunch of tests, make sure that the cancer hasn't metastasized to more parts of her body, if that comes out ok then we amputate the leg that does have the cancer, follow up with Chemo and hope for the best. They said if there is any cancer that is smaller than 4mm they wouldn't be able to detect it so we take our chances that the surgery isn't in vain.

I know that's small potatoes compared to some of the trials our families have faced in the recent years, luckily it's not another human, but she is a member of my family and I wanted to share with you all. I know how I feel when I don't get let in on the news, good or bad, and thought some of you might want to know as well.

As for the chickens, I won't e-mail you when I kill one of them, unless you want an invite to come over for BBQ!

Chicken Chronicles

Shar'ai's pain pills seem to be helping. She's still limping but is not afraid to walk or even run on it when it suits her. I've been getting more pictures of the dogs with the chicks. Shar'ai is fine - she put's her nose right on the poor little girls and just sniffs them, all over! No agressive moves, just lots of sniffing. Tasha has tried to eat them several times on Sunday, but did much better last night. Only one attempt at 'chick in mouth' :) She get's a severe reprimand and then she just tries to avoid the chick so that she won't get into trouble. We've got a couple pictures of her where she looks like she is scared of the chick. It's very funny.

Canine Osteosarcoma

Shar'rai has been limping for the past couple of days. I noticed it yesterday and checked her paw, I looked for a thorn or something but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. By last night she seemed fine, we took the girls out to the pet store to get some food and they both acted fine. This morning when I went out to feed them I noticed Shar'rai limping again. This time I saw the her front right leg was swollen. That was concerning. I had to leave fairly early to go with Daine to a luring event that she wanted to check out. I had Sean take Shar'rai inside, thinking that maybe she was getting a bit of arthritis or something and needed to be in where it's warm. I asked him to watch her for a bit and see if it got better. Then we decided that we should make her an appt to see a vet. The vet had room for her today so he took her in. He called me from the office as soon as the vet looked at her. He wanted to get x-rays right away thinking it was broken. Apparently when the Dr came back after looking at the x-rays, Sean could tell that it was something different. The x-rays showed unusal bone growth that is indicative of cancer. They sent Sean and Shar'rai home with some doggie ibuprofins and said to come back next week for a follow up.