Barbara Duke

Tipper was my first fur baby I lost to cancer, oral cancer, February 14, 2014, after suffering Bloat and cancer in bone. He showed no signs, ate dry food good. He’d his first surgery at a local vet. It was sent off to the lab, but it did not say what kind of cancer. Since I had not dealt with cancer in a pet, I really didn’t know how to approach it. I also had to raise the money for any major surgery. A doctor who did cancer surgeries and surgeries for the vet I used was not a specialist in cancer. His specialty was orthopedic surgery. So, to have part of the jawbone removed wasn’t really explained. They didn’t even refer him to an oncologist. I think no one wanted to help for two reasons, 1) Because of the money and no pet insurance was suggested like CareCredit. 2) He was 10 years old. But after searching for two or three months, I did find a vet who referred me to UT Knoxville, TN. The cancer was found in June, July or August and this was September. No one before made no suggestions. I did have one friend who did try to help. At UT I was told with the advance stage, surgery wasn’t likely. UT even requested the tissue removed at first surgery to try and figure out what kind of cancer, but since it had been two+ months they could not tell. Since surgery wasn’t an option, UT suggested 4 Palliative Radiation treatments. UT was about a 2-3 hour drive both ways. It would not be easy, but as long as he did well, More could be done and it would give me more time with him. So, for 4 weeks one day a week, he and I would make the one trip to UT. At the end of the 4 treatments, the tumor was gone, but the cancer was still in the jawbone. Nut we had Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years together. We were even scheduled to see a dog dentist specialist. But the night before the dentist out of nowhere, he ate good and later that night around 10 PM, his stomach suddenly bloated out like he’d swallowed a football. I got him in my car and went to the nearest emergency…[Read more]