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Our Beloved German Shephard Alfred Has A Life Threatening Health Crisis


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2022 Jul 18, 3:57am   648 views  13 comments

by ohomen171   ➕follow (2)   💰tip   ignore  

#dpg bone cancer As some of you know our beloved family member, Alfred the German Shepherd is experiencing a life-threatening health crisis. A small lesion developed on his right front leg. He started licking and scratching it non-stop. It reached the point that we took him to an emergency veterinary clinic yesterday. An initial physical examination and series of X-Rays indicated that Alfred had a malignant tumor in the bone of his right leg. It would be a terminal event for him. We were shocked and heartbroken. Later in the day, the doctors reversed their original diagnosis and were not sure that Alfred's tumor was malignant. We go tomorrow to get a biopsy,
Some years ago, I had gone to the funerals of two incredible professional women (the mayor of Millbrae, California, and one of Elena's doctor colleagues) who had never smoked but both died of lung cancer in their mid-50s. I got a shocking diagnosis. A small growth was detected in the lower part of one of my lungs. A Pulmonologist made the diagnosis that there was a 90%+ chance that it was malignant. I was face to face with my mortality. I was going to die in my mid-60s. I would follow in my father's footsteps. I would die due to lung problems.
Elena spent 16 years as a cancer doctor in Argentina. She looked at my CT scans of the growth on my lung. She saw no sparkling speckles around the growth. She told me that most likely the growth was not malignant.
A treatment regime was initiated. Every six months I would go in for a CT scan of the growth. The goal was to see if the growth got larger. In two years, the growth did not get larger. My life was not going to end due to lung cancer.
With Alfred, Elena came up with the idea of using radiation therapy to lengthen Alfred's life while providing a good quality of life for him. There is some hope!

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1   stereotomy   2022 Jul 18, 7:30am  

Shepherd, unless your dog has chronic priapisms.
2   Ceffer   2022 Jul 18, 10:48am  

stereotomy says

Shepherd, unless your dog has chronic priapisms.

Elena gave him too much viagra.
3   NuttBoxer   2022 Jul 18, 10:48am  

Majority of dog's health problems come from the shit that passes as dog food. Our dogs are far from perfect health, but at 13 and 14, they still go on two mile walks up the hill no problem, still have energy to play, and I credit changing them to healthier dog food early in their lives.

I say this next part having a mom who's had cancer. It's environmental. Your dog is absorbing it from somewhere, likely his food. As people I'd also say that's the first place to look, although RF radiation, water, air quality all play a part.
4   richwicks   2022 Jul 18, 11:23am  

NuttBoxer says

I say this next part having a mom who's had cancer. It's environmental. Your dog is absorbing it from somewhere, likely his food. As people I'd also say that's the first place to look, although RF radiation, water, air quality all play a part.


My dog was diagnosed with liver cancer when he was only 9. I started to cook for him, and he made it to 16. Cooking chicken and something like quinoa (it's lower carb than rice) and whatnot, they did well on that. They also had kibble.

I wouldn't hesitate to amputate a leg if the dog is young. One of my dogs had glaucoma, that always leads to blindness. For a PERSON going blind might be devastating, not for a dog. I spent a small fortune to prolong her eyesight, and would do it again, but it wasn't a big deal when she went blind. All I had to do was teach her - step up, down, left, right, no big deal. I even continued to walk her off leash.

Dogs are WAY more resilient than people are. If your dog has sarcoma in a limb, and it's malignant, consider amputation. I never had a dog that had an amputation (Samoyeds don't tend to develop cancer) but I know a few people who had dogs that were amputees. If they lose a leg when they are young, they don't even miss it.
5   richwicks   2022 Jul 18, 1:38pm  

HunterTits says


WHO
GIVES
A
FUCK?

seriously.


You never had a dog or if you did, you were a pretty poor owner. It's difficult to put them down. You spend their ENTIRE life keeping them healthy, and they spend their entire life trying to keep you happy because they recognize their well-being and happiness is linked to yours. I spent years doing dog fostering and rescue, the two I kept needed me - they were messed up from previous owners, I was the only one willing to fix them, I did fix them and you really get a special and grateful animal when you're able to do that.

The worst thing I've ever done, was to put down my own dogs. It was bad enough, I'm done having pets. Might foster again, possibly, but I'm never going through that again and it doesn't help a bit for a person who has no comprehension of the situation to ask "Who gives a fuck?" IF you understood the animal, and knew what it was like to have one, and were a decent owner, you would, trust me.

A lot of people have a pet that they just neglect and it's not really their pet. I used to go hiking with mine, take them bar hoping, I got my dog drunk ONCE (it's very bad for them, they don't metabolize alcohol well), camping with them. They have a completely different perspective on life than a human being does, and you can ONLY experience their perspective if you're open to it, and understand them. They don't say that dogs are "man's best friend" for no reason. They are the earliest domesticated animal on the planet.

I had Samoyeds. You know what their job was? They herded reindeer, pulled sleds, and slept with the children at night to keep them warm. They are from Samoyedic people, you know them as the Nenets, they are possibly one of the oldest breeds on the planet. If a dog showed ANY aggression, it was immediately killed. You can object to that, but let me tell you, you can't argue with results. These dogs are extremely affectionate, with everybody.

And this is a Samoyed (you'll want to fast forward about 20 seconds in)

https://odysee.com/@Moelyad:4/ParaglydingDog:0

These are super chill dogs. You treat them reasonably well, and their attitude through their entire life is "life is fucking awesome". I lived with a sort of intelligence that had NOTHING but a positive attitude about everything for 14 years. There's no ups and downs with them, it's just up. You'll never experience that, and if you won't be a good dog owner, you can't.

I put down my male in 2014, and my female in 2017 - I still miss them. I will always miss them. Kids are shitty pet owners, but they are kind of like kids, without any of the bullshit of kids. They remain in eternal childhood, a kind of wonder of the world, and they never grow cynical. Even a dog that has been SEVERELY abused (and I've had those) will very rapidly revert to innocence, if you just are a little patient. I had a dog that had his jaw broken by being kicked, who was terrified of defecating or urinating in front of me because his previous owner never let him out, but would beat the fuck out of him when he had to finally go to the bathroom. You have no idea what it's like to make them believe that's an extremely rare exception to the rule, but it's not. People suck. All you got to do is feed them, take them out a bit, spend some time with them, they'll adore you, and love life. Need a schedule, have to be consistent, doesn't matter if you're sick or not - it's both easy and hard.

Mark Twain described it well, "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." What's great about them, is they will never betray you, if you never betray them, and that's simple to do, it's natural to do.

There's sort of a purity about a dog. My dogs had a better life than I will have, or you will. It's just too fucking short.
6   richwicks   2022 Jul 18, 7:35pm  

HunterTits says


richwicks says


You never had a dog or if you did, you were a pretty poor owner


Where the FUCK do you get that shit?

Out of your ass, that's where.



I did dog rescue for over a decade. I have seen some pretty horrible results of shitty owners.

I've also had to put both my dogs down. I never intended to have dogs, I intended to exclusively do rescue, but I had two dogs that were unfit to be adopted, who really needed me, and I think I needed them.

The first dog I adopted was very neglected. He was filthy, covered in fleas, and his coat was just slime and grease, he'd never been bathed. I combed him out which was at minimum uncomfortable, despite my being careful. He was clearly uncomfortable, but because I was the first person in YEARS to give him any attention at all, he leaned into me. He was so starved for attention even a painful comb out was affection to him. It was heart breaking.

I eventually ended up adopting him, because nobody wanted him, he was some weird mix, he was very attached to me. I even had a couple come down from San Francisco (I was working in Mountain View at the time) that walked him and wanted to adopt him. The father asked me, stupidly, "are you sure you want to adopt this dog out?", and I thought about it, and I was like "no - I don't". The entire family drove down for an hour and then walked Kelsey for an hour, and they fucked up - I was clearly the best owner for him, and I wasted their time, I'm sure I pissed them off, I don't care. I was the best owner for that dog.

If you don't feel the loss and misery when your dog dies, you're not a good dog owner. I had to kill my dogs to prevent them from having a horrifically painful death. Maybe I shaved off a few weeks, maybe months, and I hated doing it, but I had to do it, but I still regret it.

You said

HunterTits says


WHO
GIVES
A
FUCK?

seriously.


I do. I still hurt. I will always hurt. I've had dozens of dogs in rescue, the ones I kept picked me. The dogs I had truly needed me and I spent tons of time researching their various diseases, their ailments, but in time, it just builds up, and no matter how smart, educated, knowledgeable you are, how much money you spend, you have to kill them.

Just a horrible shitty thing to have to do. I really worked hard to keep them alive, They both lived 2 years beyond their life expectancy, but when they are ready to die, good luck. It's a shit storm of problems all at once.

I'll say it here, I'm one the best goddamned dog owners here, easily in the top 1% and I've seen shitty owners who have no clue how shitty they are. I cleaned up after their clueless mess. It's not a toy. It's a living thinking entity. Not human, but alive, and more aware than people give them credit for.

I never had to deal with sarcoma, but man, every disease my dogs had, I did my work and research. My dog survived adenocarcinoma. I was very dedicated, but putting them down, just can't do that again.

If you've had a dog and weren't hurt by its death or having to put it down, I can't consider you a good dog owner. I was very involved with their health and well being and happiness, and I didn't just do that as duty. I really liked them. Why would you have a dog you don't like? I always wondered that because EVERY dog I had in rescue, the owner didn't give a shit about them. They were all fucked up in some way. People don't care, and it's not much work, and it's a LOT of cost - why own an animal you don't even fucking care about? Just makes misery. We have enough of that.

If you had a dog, and didn't give a fuck about it's health. I've worked against people like you for a decade and it cost a shitload of money, there's no reward for it. You can only change things on a very small scale. Your job as a pet owner, is just to give it an opportunity to enjoy its life, it's not too expensive, and you just need not to be an asshole. Doing 10 years of rescue, there's more assholes than I imagined. Why do people get a pet that they don't give a fuck about? Why? Just kill the poor thing, instead of drawing out its death and torture.

If you're a REMOTELY good animal owner, their health effects you. I know why people reach out, it is having a friend in need. I'd say my dogs were more close than friends, and less close than direct family. They are something you take care of for their entire lifetime, why would you do that if you didn't feel some connection with them? It sucks to put them down. It really is the worst thing I've done, but I had to do it, don't regret it, but it was terrible. Bad enough, I'm not going to repeat it. It's just too goddamned awful to do.
7   richwicks   2022 Jul 18, 9:12pm  

HunterTits says

richwicks says


I did dog rescue for over a decade. I have seen some pretty horrible results of shitty owners.


SO
FUCKING
WHAT?


I'm pointing out you don't understand. I know directly how shitty people can be, and they are shitty for no reason.
8   BayArea   2022 Jul 18, 10:29pm  

What is this guy’s motivation to post here but never respond or interact with his readers lol
9   HeadSet   2022 Jul 19, 12:05am  

BayArea says

What is this guy’s motivation to post here but never respond or interact with his readers lol

Bot Turing test.
10   richwicks   2022 Jul 19, 10:55pm  

There's no point in continuing this discussion for me.
11   stereotomy   2022 Jul 20, 3:04pm  

richwicks says

Mark Twain described it well, "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." What's great about them, is they will never betray you, if you never betray them, and that's simple to do, it's natural to do.


My favorite Mark Twain quote is somewhat related, "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too hard to read."
12   richwicks   2022 Jul 20, 8:55pm  

stereotomy says

richwicks says


Mark Twain described it well, "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." What's great about them, is they will never betray you, if you never betray them, and that's simple to do, it's natural to do.


My favorite Mark Twain quote is somewhat related, "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too hard to read."


I had to check the quote out of curiosity. It's Groucho Marx. Funny that in 2022 it leads me to different thinking so the joke falls flat.



Funny, I can see the reality of "more innocent times".
13   mell   2022 Jul 20, 9:03pm  

I don't want to be part of a club that would want me as a member

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