I took Earle to the vet yesterday. He's been slow and stiff for the last couple weeks. He's allowed to get old, slow and stiff. He just turned 12 last week. It's been about the easiest life any dog has ever had, but he is getting older. He is NOT allowed to be seriously ill. I thought we had an understanding about that, but apparently Earle wasn't listening. Typical husky!!
His back leg is not stiff because of athritis. Actually, his joints look really good on the x-rays. It is stiff because the inside of his thigh is so swollen he can't bend his knee without pain. Now that it's been pointed out to me, it's really obvious, but I never noticed the swelling before! Crap! Bad Earle's Mom! The swelling is from an invasive lipoma....the normally harmless bengin lumps old dogs tend to get, except this one is not harmless and might not be bengin. This one has invaded the muscles in Earle's thigh. It is potentially cancerous. Even if it's not, it's in a really bad spot...hard to get it all out, hard to heal, not sure it will do any good to operate. Damn!!!
He goes back to Dr. Candace on Monday evening for a core biopsy. We're hoping that a few days of Meloxicam will knock the swelling down enough to see where the lump begins and ends more clearly. Our treatment plan or lack thereof will depend on that and the biopsy results.
Earle is the best dog ever....best temperment I've ever seen, sweet, gentle, just smart enough to be trainable, not so smart that he drives me to drink, likes cats, loves other dogs, never met a human he didn't like. Best dog ever is not allowed to be seriously ill!! Muskwa is not allowed to outlive both his kids(not that I want anything bad to happen to Muskwa either!). Not allowed, not ready, not happening yet!
For those that don't know my dogs anymore...this is Earle, aka Best Dog Ever!
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