Sadly I don't have very good luck with dogs

Some of you may already know I had to have my 7 year old Flat Coat Retriever put down last January due to a brain tumor. It was a painful experience for me to do this but she was suffering terribly. I rescued her from a local rescue organization three and a half years previously and her health was never very good. During the time Lucky lived with me she had a bout with heart work (at the time I adopted her) then an infected uterus that required emergency surgery. She had a hip displasia that made it difficult for her to get around in her later years so I had to carry a ramp to get her into and out of my truck and trailer, then the brain tumor ended her life.

Now the little boarder collie I again rescued from a shelter in Kansas City has been diagnosed with bone cancer primary in her left hind leg. It developed as a slight gimpiness that I had my vet look at. It was then diagnosed as an ACL problem and was told she MAY recover from it with rest and drugs or she might need surgery. It was decided to give her a chance to take pain meds and keep her as calm as you can keep a border collie to see what happened. After repeated trips to the vet and continued treatment for three months I finally took her to another vet (my original could not do the ACL surgery and I wanted to have it done locally. When the xrays came back it was clear there was no ACL damage but the bone where it joins the ankle showed the cancer.

Now she will be going in for limb amputation in hopes she can be one of the small percentage of animals who survive this ailment. She certainly deserves better than she's getting from life. Sassy is less than three years old and otherwise happy and healthy. Vet says we're finding this problem early but there is a high probability that the cancer will spread to her lungs. I'm totally beside myself and felt it might help to share it. Take good care of your animals, they can't do it themselves and they're worth it.