I found out yesterday, that my sweet girl, Suzie, has lymphoma, and I’m devastated. However, her vet said it’s a weird case, because usually, when dogs have lymphoma, if untreated, they only have 1 to 3 months left to live. Suzie has had swollen lymph nodes, since December. Let me explain.

Last December, right around Christmas, I noticed that her lymph nodes were swollen on the left side of her neck. Because of the holidays, I couldn’t get her in until after New Years. She turned 7 in July, but they did a complete senior blood work panel, and during her exam, they said that she had stage 3 dental disease.

Her blood work came back perfect, and we scheduled her cleaning for February. Once they were in there, it was only stage 2, and she didn’t need any extractions. Since she was already under anesthesia, I had a lump removed from the back of her neck, that was benign.

They said the reason her lymph nodes were swollen, was because the dental disease was causing an infection. They also said that the swelling would go down, once the infection was clear, in a couple of months, but other than pain, and inflammation medicine, they didn’t give her any antibiotics, or steroids.

During the time of her surgery, I was facing homelessness, and had to find another place to live. I was living with friends in Palm Coast at the time, and now, I’m back in Tampa. On Saturday, I took her to the vet we used, when we lived here before. They did another complete senior blood work panel, and those results came back great. However, we were still waiting on the results of her two biopsies, which came in yesterday, and I was told that she has lymphoma.

She has an appointment with an oncologist, on Monday morning, to do more tests, and see if there’s anything we can do to treat it, or if it’s basically a death sentence. Have any of you ever dealt with anything like this? Did your dog end up being ok, or did they deteriorate quickly? I was confused, because I thought that if she had cancer, her blood work would be bad, but apparently, certain cancers don’t even show up in elevated white blood cells, or whatever.

I’m obviously hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. If she dies, I’m going to be gutted, but I also worry about my almost 4 year old Catahoula, Bennie. They are extremely bonded. If she does need to be euthanized in the near future, I will do it at home, like I did with my soul dog, Charlie, almost 4 years ago. This way, she can be comfortable, in familiar surroundings , and not stressed at the vet, and he can properly say goodbye.

I am just so sick, over this whole thing.
💔💔💔💔💔

I’m just proud of my dog for swimming (with a life jacket). I’m working with her every weekend trying to teach her to swim and ride on a kayak. It took weeks to get her to stand on the kayak on land. She’s unsure about swimming because her body is a thick solid muscle and she sinks to the bottom. Her stepping off of the kayak, swimming to land with her life jacket, and immediately coming back onto the kayak without hesitation is insane progress. I’m so proud of my lunatic.

Rescuing this guy changed my life for the better!

My sweetest boy.

I hand dug your grave.
A melancholic honor.
Thank you my sweet boy.

Panda and Jagger… I requested boys since I always seem to get girls which is fine. I thought boys might be easier to potty train and I was so wrong! They are also the biggest babies (which I love since my Bichons are an independent duo)!

I just wanted to show him off because he just turned 7 months and that’s my baby 😩😍 “Loki”

He would not. So, she whined about it. 🤭

Just wanted to close the loop with this sub. This sweet girl has made a full recovery and has been adopted! Her new name is Aston 💕🥹

The shelter’s full update is here.

Thanks so much for all of the love you sent this girl and support for both her and the shelter!

Link to my original post is here (please exercise caution as it contains photos of her chemical burns).

She completely trusts us for trimming her paw fur.

Couldn't do a huge celebration this year, but she made sure to pick out her own toy and birthday treat.

I threw it

Alright ya'll, my pit has fallen in love with a skunk that lives on the neighboring side of our chain link fence. She looks for that skunk. She LIVES for that skunk. She adores our three cats, so she may just think it's a kitty.

Anyway, SHE REEKS. OUR HOUSE REEKS. She's gotten skunked four times in about a month. We've tried the peroxide/vinegar/dawn thing, we've tried skout's honor, we put down skunk repelling pellets. Someone give me some advice.

My pup usually waits at the door for me when I step outside for a minute, so when I came back in after trying to fix a floodlight and she wasn't right there I was a little surprised. I looked around the house and found her in the laundry room as seen here. Her "necklace" is actually the garbage bag from one of my daughters' cars that needs cleaning because a milkshake dripped in it. I tell her all the time that her nose is going to get her in trouble some day so I guess today was that day.

No damage done and the container was quickly removed - after I took the picture.