Scary Stuff; Send "Good Poo Vibes"

Tyler (aka "the Poo") and I are in the midst of quite a scare. Last night while he was laying on his back for me to rub his belly (one of his favorite pastimes), I noticed a problem ... one of his testicles was considerably, noticeably larger than the other one. I wasn't sure what that meant, but was sure it couldn't be good. I called the vet first thing this morning, and got Tyler in this afternoon. After his examination, my vet confirmed my fears - a testicular tumor.

The 'good' news, if you can say that, is that the vet said judging by the size, I caught it extremely early, and this type of cancer rarely spreads anywhere else. He also said that the fact Tyler has been acting totally normal and healthy, with plenty of energy, still playing and eating normally, is a good sign.

So the solution is immediate neutering. That should remove everything, and should be a complete cure. I seriously hope so.

No, obviously I didn't have him neutered when he was younger. And it was a big mistake. Why didn't I have it done? Bunch of (now stupid) reasons. For one, I felt it was unnecessary trauma and pain. I didn't think there were any real health benefits to it, I thought it was just to keep Tyler from making unwanted puppies. And since I've always been very careful about not letting him run loose, keeping him on a leash or rope when in public and in my fenced-in back yard at home, I didn't think it was a big deal.

One vet did mention there were health reasons to have it done, but she had a very bad attitude about it - first, she treated me like I was stupid while telling me this (and it wasn't the first time she'd done that), and then did something that pissed me off so badly that I not only immediately changed vets, but completely discounted everything she'd had to say about neutering (and everything else). When I expressed concern about how it would affect Tyler to be neutered, she literally looked down her nose at me and said, quite disdainfully, "it's just a dog!"

Okay - anyone who knows me and Poo knows that is the most wrongedy wrong thing you could say to me about him. He's not "just a dog" to me. He's family. I feel about him like most people feel about their kids. Yeah - I know he's not (technically) human, but sheesh - so I had some concerns. So I dote on my dog. So get over it. Any vet worth the paper their degree is printed on would never say "he's just a dog." Perhaps she would have been happier in a lab somewhere, telling herself, "they're just monkeys."

So I completely disregarded her as some kind of dysfunctional bitch, and found a new vet.

I've been going to the new vet ever since (that's probably been about 5 years or more) and they never really mentioned it, either - once, kind of in passing, but never did anyone really explain any of this to me. So I continued to slough it off as not that important.

Now I know why it's more than just an unwanted puppy prevention. This type of cancer is very common in older un-neutered male dogs - I think I read online that something like 70% to 80% of older un-neutered dogs will likely develop this! And if it's not this, there are other problems commonly developed by aging dogs who have not been neutered, most notably prostate problems. And most of this can be 100% prevented by just having them neutered. If I ever get another dog, I won't make that mistake again. And I wish some vet at some time had taken the time to explain this to me, in a way that didn't make me feel stupid or make Tyler out to be nothing more than a "dumb animal."

Fortunately, hopefully, this will be fixable. The surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning, and if all goes well, he should make a relatively uneventful recovery and be completely cured. Dr. Nokes said many dogs have no problems with this surgery, which is technically relatively minor. The only risk for Tyler is that he's 12 years old, and anesthetizing an older dog can pose a risk. They took blood today to run some tests and make sure he's healthy enough to withstand the anesthesia (checking kidney function, for example, because it's the kidneys that filter out the anesthesia after the surgery). I'm fairly confident that'll be okay ... he is, in all other respects, very healthy. After all, he's been eating an all natural, home-cooked diet since he was 4 - whole grains, protein (turkey or chicken, sometimes tuna, beef, eggs), a variety of fresh vegetables, and fresh fruits for snacks. One of these days I'll post a rant about why everyone who loves their dog should cook for them, and not feed commercial dog foods. But not today.

And when I point blank asked Dr. Nokes if he thought Tyler would be okay, he said yes, he did. So ... hopefully, he's right.

Here's a picture I took this morning. Does this look like "just a dog" to you? Please send Poo good vibes tomorrow morning. I'll post an update tomorrow evening.