Bulldogs World

Rebel is at day 101 since diagnosis of hemangiosarcoma. They originally gave him 8-88 days. He went to the oncologist today for his follow up. It was very, very good news but has kind of thrown us for a loop. His anemia and low white blood cells are completely resolved; all normal now. His platelets are triple from diagnosis (from 24,000 to 77,000). They were able to clearly see on his ultrasound that the mass was in his spleen. Before they couldn’t tell the liver from the spleen, so it has shrunk. He hasn’t lost any weight since his last visit. She thinks he looks really good and with his blood work what it is now, she would recommend taking out the spleen which may give him some change to beat the cancer. Or we could continue on the palladia course and herbs and just keep riding it out. Once again, we have to make a decision. We aren’t really sure what to think. I KNOW I value quality of life over quantity and when he was much sicker at diagnosis, the decision was very clear to me (especially when the oncologist thought he probably wouldn't make it through the surgery). We don't have children and our two dogs are everything to us. We got Rebel just one week into our marriage and we just celebrated our 10 year anniversary. I just want to choose what is best for him, but I'm really not sure. We are fortunate to work good jobs and we live a conservative lifestyle so cost of treatment isn't really a concern; it is all about Rebel.

A question for everyone--he did have calcium oxalate crystals in his urine today. His whole life (up until diagnosis) he has been on science diet light (I know, I know not a great food but I didn't know until diagnosis). He has since been on blue wilderness stews and purees. Is this too much protein for him?? He only wants to eat wet foods, not kibble since he was diagnosed (and basically he has a cancer card so I'm going with it). I need calorie dense foods to keep the weight on him and preferably pretty low carb is better for dogs with cancer.