Angel was crazy, but mostly in the water, which no doubt reduced the impact on her monofilament “ligaments”. Our current pooch can get really nuts, even at 11 yo he will sometimes corner so low to the ground at speed that only centrifugal force keeps him from falling over, but his build (30" at shoulder, 54 lbs) saves him there, An occasional sprained “ankle” (2 0r 3 per year) is the worst we’ve had with him so far. Needing to coax a dog to eat is a PITA sometimes, but it can also have some advantages over owning a glutton like Angel was. Not her fault, it’s mostly in the breeding. Labs were bred down in size from the St. Johns (water) dog of Newfoundland, and that breed’s job was to go out with the village net fishermen and retrieve fish that escaped the net. In 35 degree water, that will burn a few calories! Newfies, fwiw, were bred up in size from that same ancestor.
Trupanion pet insurance pays the vet directly. You do have to pay a deductible that you select when choosing a plan.
Very sorry to hear about your dog. My last dog had cancer and unfortunately it spread thtoughout her body. Keep them comfortable and spend as much time as possible with them.
Thanks!! This whole situation has been really frustrating, to say the least. The original prognosis was that the cancer would win, and I would lose him by around the Thanksgiving time period. But here we are, starting 2025, and he’s still going strong. Full of energy, eating well, and no respiratory or other symptoms.
I took him in on the 19th for a consult with a different surgeon and follow-up x-rays, as I was wondering what the hell was going on. After the surgeon gave him an exam and looked at the new x-rays, she was also baffled at why he was having no symptoms. She suggested a consult with a internal medicine specialist, as she thinks it might NOT be cancer, but some other infection or fungal infection.
Even the radiologist who read the x-rays listed that a fungal infection couldn’t be ruled out. I’ve been asking these specialists for months, if it could be a fungal infection, as we were out on a RV trip in the Ohio River valley area in the beginning of the Summer, known as a fungal infection region. They did a quick test early on, and didn’t think he had it.
I believe most pieces of the puzzle point to a fungal infection versus primary lung cancer. Like over 30% these type of infections get mis-diagnosed as cancer.
So, I go in Monday for a consult with a internal medicine specialist to try and figure out what the hell is going on… going to get him completely tested for all different fungal types, and see what shows up. I hope this specialist has a really good detective hat she can put on.
I wish you much luck with the new specialist. Hopefully you and your dog can enjoy many more happy years together.
I forgot to mention yesterday, Dr Carol Carberry at Oradell animal hospital is who figured out what was going on with my dog, she is fantastic. I believe she takes care of all of the police k9’s in bergen county. Oradell can be very expensive, but she is very good.
Good luck, hope your pup is ok
Little late here, but I hope you figured out your pal’s issues and is going strong.
Consider taking your dog to Red Bank Animal Hospital; one of the premier VET Hospitals in NJ
They have specialists in ever field (including cancer) - possibly get a second opinion…
Thanks, we’ve been there, along with Northstar and Garden State. He had Oncologists, Surgeons, Internal Medicine, Opthamologists, Emergency docs, multiple radiologists, and my local vet, all working to come up with a solution. We were frequent flyers at all of them.
Thanks for the thoughts, but unfortunately, he lost the battle to cancer at the end of January. I tried everything, but couldn’t save him. Such a heartbreaking loss…
Sorry to hear that. He was a handsome boy!
Thanks! I really appreciate it! This dude was literally my shadow all day long. The first thing I saw in the morning, and the last thing before going to bed. He was my wingman. Losing him left a HUGE hole in my life and heart, and so frustrating that I couldn’t save him… 
You got me crying here man. I feel your pain.
My appologies, I didn’t look at the date stamp when I replied.
So sorry for your loss - Been there, it hurts, but Good memories live forever…
Yeah, I’ve been doing a bit of that too…
Out of all the dogs I’ve lost over my years, this was the toughest loss, due to all the time I spent working with him and training him… 7 years was way to short to have him here.
Loosing a friend is never easy, and especially difficult when it happens before their time. You have my heartfelt sympathy.
I had to put down a cat at 5 years because of an un-reparable congenital defect in his urinary tract. There was no surgical solution to save my otherwise healthy an happy cat, and that really pissed me off for some reason.
Sorry for your loss. FWIW, our Golden had cancer and despite multiple surgeries he eventually got so bad we just had to put him down anyways. Just prolonged his pain and suffering 
That was probably 5 or so years ago. Unfortunately, the care that is out there just isn’t on par with what is out there for humans.
And that is exactly what frustrated me in this whole journey. What I found out in this process is approximately 1 out of 4 dogs will get cancer by the time they reach 10 years old, but as of today, there’s no real cure for them, like in humans.
Chemo in dogs only puts the cancer in remission for a short while, but won’t cure it, like in humans. Surgery is usually the only “cure” IF they can get all of it during surgery and it doesn’t spread. Radiation only sometimes works on single, easy accessible tumors. They don’t have the new I.O. drugs, like Ketruda or Opdivo, for dogs yet.
My dude had like 6 different tumors spread through his lungs, based on xray and CT scans, so he wasn’t a surgery or radiation candidate. They tried a few times to get an actual sample so they could verify which cancer cells they were, but were unsuccessiful, so they wouldn’t try chemo without knowing.
I put him on my own anti-cancer protocol, with a bunch of anti-cancer supplements. I believe they bought him a few more months, but didn’t save him. I think his best chance would have been with the I.O drugs, and I found out that the Univ. of Penn Vet hospital sometimes does clinical trials, but I didn’t know about that until too late.
Sorry to hear man. Yeah, it sucks but understandably not everyone is willing to spend that kinda $$ on their pets so it limits research and such in the field i guess.
Yeah, I get that. Medical care for dogs can get expensive. But, in many cases, clinical research for new drugs starts on dogs, then moves to people. So, many times the basic research is already done. Plus, from everything I’ve read, approximately 1 in 4 dogs will get cancer in their lifetime, so it’s not a small market, 90 million dogs in the USA and 471 million dogs globally. There has to be other fools like me that will spend the bucks to save their dogs.
You are not a fool. Money well spent. I have done it and will continue to fight for these animals that mean so much to us. They would do it for us if they could I am sure.
I appreciate that you feel the same way I do about our dogs. They are members of the family. Unfortunately, the majority of people I’ve spoke with after losing my dude, don’t feel this way, and would treat their dog like a burned out toaster oven, and just discard it, instead of trying to help it. And that’s really sad…