Ally is a beautiful pure-bred collie who was found by a rescue organization and she was starving, dehydrated, and abandoned. We think she may be 10 years old. She had to be reintroduced to food, and hand fed by the rescue people. We fell in love with her immediately, and Maggie, our lab/shep/midget mix was thrilled as well.
When we adopted her, she weighed 45 pounds, and you could feel her bony hips, and every vertebrae in her spine. Her mouth and teeth were such a mess that we had to have 8 teeth pulled! For the first 3 months, we set about telling her that she was home now, and she'd never have to worry about anything. We focused on immune-system boosting vitamins and minerals. She knows now that she's home, and she'll never have to worry about anything again, and we will never abandon her. She now weighs in at 60 lbs but is still delicate.
After losing Goblin to cancer last year, it was a real blow to get another cancer diagnosis. Dogs without treatment usually die within 3 - 5 months of diagnosis. Standard treatment for this cancer is high voltage radiation and chemo (cisplatin), and is not readily available in many places, or OPLA-Pt therapy which is only done at Colorado. The treatments require that the dogs be anesthetized, and are either daily with weekends off for a total of 15 treatments, or every other day with weekends off for a total of 19 treatments. While studies show promise using this treatment, only 13 dogs were used in the study, the median age of the dogs was 6.5, and the dogs in the study had lymphoma, osteosarcoma, and nasal carcinoma.
We are devoted to boosting Ally's immune system even more with known cancer fighting materials. She will never want for anything, and for whatever time she has left, she will be loved and cherished.
UPDATE JUNE 5, 2001 -
We had to euthanize our Ally on June 5, 2001. She lost her battle with nasal adenocarcinoma. We had so hoped for a 18 month to 2 year remission, as did the good people at Colorado State where Ally was treated with the OPLA-Pt implant and radiation.
Yesterday, we would have celebrated her 2nd year with us because that was when we first adopted her. Her time with us was so short!
Go Back to Tribute to Dogs with Cancer
Go to FiveHuskys Main Page
