Ruggles barks at the craziest things - the tail stream of a jet that flew by five minutes ago, or the moon, or just because.
He is outgoing, very friendly and gets on well with our other dogs, a Great Dane female and his buddy Scamp, a Jack Russell who was born within a week of Ruggles.
A month ago I noticed Ruggles coughing painfully as if he had something lodged in his throat. It began as once in a while, but when it increased I took him to the vet on 6th July. I had also found two big lumps under his throat, which I thought were his thyroid glands.
The vet took one look at him, felt the lumps, discovered more at the back of his hind legs and diagnosed lymphoma. He took several biopsies to be sure.
Our choices were: chemotherapy over 24 weeks for a total of $5.880 which would prolong his life for about a year, maybe 18 months: or prednisone to keep him reasonably comfortable, while reducing the cancer lumps a little until he died in two months.
I went away to digest the news and talk to my husband about what we should do.
I waited until I got into the car with my perfectly healthy looking dog before I burst into tears.
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