Cody
was a wonderful dog and was loved
by many. He started out as
my sisters dog, but circumstances
occurred where she could not keep
him so he ended up at my parents
house. My parents didn't
appreciate Cody like my husband
did (boyfriend at the time) so as
soon as my husband purchased a
home, he took Cody to live with
him. He immediately started
the good life. Cody liked to
sleep in bed with us, or cuddle up
on the couch next to us. He
always thought he was a lap dog
and he had us convinced too.
Cody led a very healthy life up
until September 2004 when he was 8
years old. We noticed
he was limping and so I took him
to the vet. It was there
that I noticed a ball on his back
ankle and saw he had lost 25 lbs.
The vet felt the leg and
lump and examined it and told us
that it looked like his leg was
fractured and healed wrong so he
asked us to take Cody to an orthopedic
surgeon to see what to
do.
The
place was an hour away from us so
my husband decided to take him up
there alone. I was thinking
that worst case they would have to
break his leg and reset it. Boy
was I surprised when my husband
called me and told me that with
one look the orthopedic surgeon
told him he knew it was cancer.
Cody stayed for the day for tests
to be sure; and it was, in fact
bone cancer that had spread
through his body already.
We were given the options that
many of the other stories stated
too - amputation, meds, or put him
down. This was the hardest
decision we have ever had to make.
We decided to not let him go
on suffering. Unfortunately
I was not there with him and I
never got to say good-bye. That
is my deepest regret and it kills
me inside that the day he left
here I was expecting him to come
back home and he never did. We
do have his ashes and I will
always have love for him in my
heart.
His best friend, Flex, is
currently sick and we are fearing
the worst. Test results come back
tomorrow and I don't know what I
will do if he has cancer too.
He is 7-1/2 years old.
I never knew that cancer was
so common in dogs. It makes
it hard for me to think about
getting another pet, it hurts so
much to see them go. :(
Here
is a picture of Cody taken just 2
days before he died.
You
can see the large tumor on his
back leg in the picture. He
loved my little girls and was so
gentle with them. I miss him
so much.
Thank you for letting me tell my
story,
Laurie
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