Helping Others in Need

Because I have kitty siblings, Mummy receives information through Catster about cat news and cats in need. Today, she received a message about a poor kitty named Pumpkin who has had a pretty rough time. If you have the time, please read his story and help him if you can. He is quite the trooper.

Happy Holidays!!!!

May you have a happy and healthy holiday!

Licks and love,

Finnegan

Amputation When Diagnosed with Canine Osteosarcoma

I noted in my stat counter that a human found my blog by searching in Google essentially "how soon to amputate after canine osteosarcoma" or something to that effect. As you are all well aware, I am a dog so I cannot provide medical advice and this should not be construed as a substitution for medical or veterinary advice. Sorry, Mummy is an attorney and LOVES disclaimers. That being said, I would advise you to get to a veterinarian as soon as possible because osteosarcomas are a fast moving cancer that spread to the lungs. Please see a veterinary oncologist or board certified veterinary surgeon to get all of the necessary information to make this decision.

Some good sites for more information are here, here, and here. They are also listed to the left in my links.

I hope I helped and good luck! By the way, I did a full walk around the block last night!

His Royal Superness

The tough part about cancer is my fluctuating energy levels. Luckily, the steroids help me be the powerful buff guy I am. Last night, I felt particularly restless AND energetic. Rather than hanging out in the living room and relaxing in front of the TV, I decided that I needed to go for a walk. Oh yes, Mummy was in her pajamas (that's one of the first things she does when she gets home from work, lazy lazy human). Oh yes, Mummy did not have her dinner yet. My demands come first. Of course, duh?

I stood in the front yard refusing to go inside and instead looked longingly to the road. After using my Irish Wolfhound mind trick, Mummy grabbed my leash and a baggy (and no, I did not poop directly in the bag like Pappy's human would like him to do!) and we set off for a delightful little walk. I find it easier to gallop instead of mosey. I spend less time on my feet and go further faster. That means Mummy must gallop along with me. In this case, she skipped along with me because, hell, she's outside in her pajamas with a giant llama like dog at night. What's more normal than that?

On the corner, there is a sassy looking chow mix who left numerous good scents for me to inhale. Ahhhhh..... After sniffing every square foot of the yard, I made sure I marked my territory so all would know His Greatness the Great Big Dog Who No, Does Not Wear a Saddle or Is Ridden by Mummy and Takes Poops in Proportion to His Size (it's a long title, I know, but you must call me that because I am royal greatness or something like that). Of course, I did my business in proportion to my size and Mummy picked it up promptly with her baggy. Is that great service or what?

Because Mummy is an overprotective human, she made me return home even though I wanted to go to the park. We all know going to the park at night is wicked safe. So we returned home, I drank some water, had a treat, and fulfilled the duties of my employment contract by lounging in the living room in a deep slumber.

Ahhh, the life of Finnegan.

Woof! I Have Been Christmas Tagged!

Pappy just commented and wanted some clarifications on my wishlist!

The Rules: The player of this game starts with "3 things he/ she would love to get for Christmas" and also has to list "3 things he/ she definitely does not want to get for Christmas". Then he/she tags 5 friends and list their names. The ones who get tagged need to write on their blogs about their Christmas wishes, as well as state this rule clearly, then tag 5 more victims. And the one who tags need to leave a comment that says "you've been Christmas tagged!" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

3 Things I would love to get for Christmas:

1. Food! Lots and lots of food!
2. My leg back. Grrrrr....
3. A romp at the dog park in Salt Lake City.

3 Things I don't want for Christmas:

1. A free all expense paid trip to Cleveland (That is where I had all my cancer treatment - bad, bad memories. Woof)
2. Dogbursts (see Eleven Days to Go)
3. Another cat.

I have tagged:

Chocolate Dog

Adventures of Cody and Alaska

Momo - The Cav's Diary

Perfect Tosca

Kenya

Congratulations Samantha!

Samantha, the gorilla at our local zoo, does not have a tumor! As a puppy who has gone through the fun of cancer treatment, it brings me great joy to know that she is free from cancer.

She is a sweet lady too. One of the first things she did when she awoke from anesthesia was grab her stuffed monkey. Ahhhhh!

Rough Ruff

Monday was an example of a tough day for me. Mum has been trying to set up a play date with my dog friend and she finally worked something out. We were going to drive up to my dog friend's house for me to play with Omes and Mum would be eating dinner with her human friends.

The evening began by Mum letting me outside to do my business and then giving me dinner. Yum. A little before seven, she encouraged me to walk up one flight of stairs. Because she had my leash in hand, I felt so excited about the prospects of where we were going! After an initial struggle, I managed to make my way up the stairs. The key is to go fast. It makes the climb so much easier. Once upstairs, Mum put my leash on me and we headed out the door. This time, I was able to get in the car all by myself with only a little boost. By this point, I was a bit tired but really excited to find out where we were going!!

We arrived at my friend's house and I leaped out of the car (yes, really!). Ome's mummy held the front door open for me and I manage to run into the door. In turn, I suffered a small cut above my right eye. Did I mention klutziness runs in the family? When I stepped into the door, I smelled my good buddy, Omes. He was wagging his tail and I was wagging mine.

HURRAY! PLAY TIME!

Not so fast. Mummy learned it was a mud pit outside so our play time was curtailed to sniffing each other in the dining room and me attempting to steal food off the table, counter, and out of the pantry closet. But Mum! They left the food out for meeeee!!!!! No such luck. Being in a new home with slippery kitchen floors, I became tuckered out pretty fast. I lounged behind Mummy in the dining room and we ended up leaving an hour and a half after arriving. Without play time. GRRRRRR.

I have recovered from my non-play play date and I'm awaiting Omes visit to my house where I can dominate Omes on my own turf and not lose energy in the excitement of the travel.

Lesson learned: I get tired easier than before so play times should be limited to my house.

Welcome!

I forgot! Today my blog is Cool Dog Site of the Day! If this is your first time here, my name is Finnegan. I am a six year old Irish Wolfhound who was diagnosed with bone cancer (osteosarcoma) in my left wrist (distal radius) last June. I have undergone an amputation of my front left leg and shoulder. In the beginning of November, I finished my chemotherapy (Cisplatin and Doxorubicin) and my chest x-ray appears to be clear of cancer! WOOFOOO!!!! Please take a look through my archives to learn more about what treatments I received and how I have been doing. Thank you for stopping by and please come again soon! WOOF!

Super Dogs and Wheelchairs

When I was initially diagnosed with canine osteosarcoma, Mummy looked into the different options but it was clear. Amputation with chemotherapy would give me the best hope of survival. Mummy looked online and tried to find other LARGE BREED DOGS who had undergone a front leg amputation. Luckily, she found Cassie's Three Legged Dog Club and learned about numerous dogs who had lost a limb and continued to walk, play, run, and even swim (yuck - I hate swimming). In the off chance I did not learn to walk (nice confidence you have in me MOM!), she looked up other mobility options such as K-9 Karts, Doggon' Wheels, and Eddie's Wheels. She emailed each of the manufacturers and they provided her with all the information she needed if I could not figure out how to walk with three legs. Luckily, I did not need such assistance although I did meet a nice man out on a walk who had a motorized scooter due to his Multiple Sclerosis. I think I could handle one of those. Just get me a helmet and some goggles and I'm off to pick up chicks! Or not.

Today in the local paper (search "Mindy & dog"), there was a story about Mindy, a chocolate lab, who is eleven years old and has severe hip dysplasia. In her older age, her pain became so severe that her humans made her a wheelchair to use. Essentially, they took a human wheelchair and put a platform on it so it would fit her. Mindy continues to visit humans in nursing homes and hospitals to cheer them up! I think that is pretty amazing and shows how well dogs can adapt to adverse conditions.

Long story short, if you are facing the choice of amputation, please do the research and realize it is not nearly as bad as it seems. I am a GIANT BREED DOG and although I did not walk as quickly as a medium or smaller dog would walk, I could ambulate only five days after surgery. Plus, if your human is willing, there are options such as canine wheelchairs and slings to help get you around.

That is my public service message of the week.

FAILURE!

I have the BEST yard EVER. There is this wonderful thing called mud where I can lounge in it and get nice and dirty. Then, when Mummy lets me inside for my ANABOLIC STEROIDS AHRRRRRR and breakfast, I can shake the mud on her nice neat work clothes and THEN she can stay home with moi because her clothes are dirty and she cannot do her lawyering with dirty clothes.

But no. She has MORE THAN ONE PAIR OF PANTS! She can take off the muddy pants, put on a new pair, AND get the muddy pants dry cleaned! How does that work? Why doesn't she want to stay home and play with me? I simply cannot fathom her desire to sit at a desk and leave me at home with the weirdo cats. Humans are soooo odd.

Six Ways of Weird

I have been tagged by Pappy to list six weird things about myself. Six? That's it? Well, here it is:

1. I do not believe I have said this before here but I am a "sight-impaired" sight hound. Seriously. I am NOT KIDDING! I was born with an optic nerve defect and my vision is not so good. I can see shapes but I do great job of running into things at times. My mum first noticed when I was a puppy and I had nystagmus and I ran into the fence. Not just once. Twice. She took me to a veterinary opthamologist who did fancy tests on me and said it was just something I was born with and my sight might get worse OR it might just stay the same. As of now, I can still see. So there.
2. I DO NOT like a neat bed. I sleep on about six blankets. Usually, my mummy folds them up in nice neat squares piled on top of each other so I have plenty of padding underneath me. When I go over to my bed, I start "nesting" and push the blankets around until they are to my satisfaction. This can go on for fifteen minutes until I get it just right.
3. I love little dogs and even though my sight is not so hot, I am very gentle around them. When we lived out in Salt Lake City, there was a little Chinese Crested dog who would follow me around the dog park. I would be extra careful when he hung out with me.
4. I play with big dogs like I am a boxer. Even with one front leg. When I get going, I bounce around and take my front paw and THWAP! the other dog. It's fun and boy does it take the other dog by surprise!
5. I moved across country with FOUR cats and my mummy while my daddy drove the truck. That's a whole different post for a different day. Let's just say, it was not fun but I received TONS of attention at rest areas!
6. When my mummy went to law school in another state, I lived with her for her last two years in law school. I travelled 500 miles round trip every other weekend with my mummy to visit my daddy and kitty siblings. During her third year, we were joined by Shrimpycat and she traveled with us too.

Okay, maybe these are not really weird facts but at least you know something more than me other than I have canine osteosarcoma and I am missing one leg (I'm still looking for it).

I am tagging:

Tin Tin

FuFu

Cubby

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday to my auntie (mum's sister) out in the great northwest! Smooches to her on her big day! Here is a picture of her BIG baby, Daisy.

Ass Kicking Kitten

Meet Millie.

Millie is my mom's friend's new kitten.

She appears to be a fuzzy wuzzy cute wittle kitten.

Be warned, Millie is ready to KICK YOUR ASS.

HA YA!

I'm a Walker, I'm a Pusher, I'm a real life Wolfhound

The above title is sung to "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band. This weekend I went on TWO WHOLE WALKS. We went down the street, around the corner, and down to the park where my mom took me off leash and let me sniff and bounce around. Each day, she is going to take me out on a little bit long walk so I can be really butch and strong. AHHHRRR! Sorry woof.

Well now I'm a pusher. That is I'm pushing National Canine Cancer Foundation. Like I said earlier, it is an organization that raises money to find the cure for or better treatments for canine cancer. Obviously, most people would prefer to donate to human cancer causes, which is great. BUT, because I am not a human, I have a vested interest in finding a cure so other doggies do not have to go through the same ordeal as I have. So if you want to donate, here is the link that will add on to the money mommy and daddy donated:

http://www.wearethecure.org/members/finnegan/

Like I said, today I'm a pusher but hey, it's a good woofy cause. Thanks!

Thanks Cubby!

I want to thank Cubby from Cubby Goes Digital for donating in my name! That is unbelievably generous and kind.

National Canine Cancer Foundation - We Are The Cure

No silly, not the band, The Cure.

If you will note on the side bar below, there is a pink paw that states "we are the cure". If you click on the paw, you will be directed to the National Canine Cancer Foundation, a website about cancer in animals. The organization provides grants for veterinary researchers and the website has information about different types of cancer. Likewise, you can donate money to the organization to help find a cure for critter cancer (hint hint).

That's my plug since I have a vested interest and all!