Cancer sucks

Lily, our first greyhound, was a very regal dog. Yet she had the craziest sense of humor. I'd be napping on the couch and she'd come over, look at Clark, then poke me in the eye with her snout! We dubbed that "snorking". She was a healthy dog when they diagnosed bone cancer in one of her front legs. We opted for a leg amputation and had several good months with her after that. The cancer was gone, but it came back and she died at age 9, far too young.

We lost Mallory to the same painful disease. I never realized how many treats we went thru until he was gone. You just couldn't walk past the cookie jar without paying him the fee!

Betsy and Doug lost Clemmie at age 7, I believe. Far too young, that I am for certain of.. She was the fuzziest greyhound I had ever met and was such a good ambassador for the breed. The foster dog that was too good to let go.

Dolly succumbed to cancer as well. She was the greyhound that Len and Megan adopted that got us all thinking about greyhound adoption. Gosh, that was a long, long time ago! She had a certain sweetness about her.

I can't help but think of all the dogs we have lost to cancer as Joe's surgery tomorrow draws near. He doesn't have bone cancer, as far as we know. What he has is a soft tissue spiral sarcoma.

Its on his right front leg, on the top elbow. I found it on him last Thursday and he was at the vet on Friday. This is something new, it has not been there. We would have noticed, he has been getting brushed most every day for quite some time now. He hasn't lost any weight so that's a good sign too.

I'd like to thank everybody for the well wishes for him and us and share part of an email I got from a person who has seen way too many sad abuses of greyhounds...

Joe is a lucky boy. He will die in a loving home knowing there is good in the world. What about those we can not save that will have never known a kind hand or warm bed with good food and toys. Those are the ones I cry for. To me, that is the worst of all.

Tell Joe, he is a lucky boy and he is loved and will leave this place with a status of way more than a number.

We plan on nursing Joe back to health after removing this tumor, but that email really sums it up. Joe is one of the lucky ones that got into a home, not into the kill truck or dumped in a back lot with a bullet in his neck. He race 188 races before he retired

http://www.greyhound-data.com/db.php?i=43020&z=Ax4eB6, then got thanked for his hard work by being tied out to a tree. Went to a person who didn't take care of him and wound up with a broken pelvis after getting hit by a car. His boyish good looks reminded me of Mallory and I lobbied during the Tour de France of 2003 for him to come live with us. Clark finally let in and we went to Thomasville and brought him home on 7/12/03.

He isn't just a number on the track or a dog that you tie up or leave in a pen because he sheds too much, he is a member of the family. I am thankful for all the people that have stood up for the rights of greyhounds over the years and look forward to the day that greyhound racing is outlawed in all states.