All my dog rescue stories start with the phrase ‘I didn’t want another dog.’ Zuki was no exception. When a friend mentioned a CraigsList ad for a young dog, I thought I’d place her with my rescue group. Except this inquisitive, exasperating, sweet, funny girl wiggled her way into my heart.
Zu was smart – she learned how to open the fridge, let herself out of the basement, and was always testing boundaries. After a neighbor threatened to shoot her for cat chasing, I hired a trainer to train us. Hard, frustrating work. Yet, within months I had a wonderful companion. A dog who came when I called, who loved to go running and hiking, who looked to me for direction and participation.
She earned her Canine Good Citizen certificate, and passed the American Temperament Testing Society test. We were more than half way towards earning her Pack Dog title through Dog Scouts of America.
Early in December, we were in the yard with the dogs. As I watched Zuki, she began limping. I thought ‘soft tissue injury.’ Except there was no ‘mechanism of injury.’ The limp didn’t go away after two days. I took her to the local vet, who seconded my opinion. The next morning, my girl was still limping. I brought her back to the vet’s to get her tested for tick borne diseases. All tests were negative.
It was our dog trainer, a retired veterinarian, who had me take Zuki in for X-rays immediately. She suspected osteosarcoma. The radiologist found a suspicious lesion in the upper bone of Zu’s left front leg. It was in an atypical area in an atypically young dog. But ‘osteosarcoma does what it wants.’
The next morning, the vet did a biopsy. Eight days of worry and fear as I waited for results, watching Zu get more lame. My girl was on 4 pain medications.
I learned more than I ever wanted to know about this aggressive cancer. The younger the dog, the worse the prognosis. If I had Zu’s leg amputated, I’d maybe get 3 or 4 more months with her. The median life span after amputation and with chemo is a year. In the end, one way or the other, my beautiful Zuki would suffer again. Osteosarcoma metastasizes quickly – to the brain, the lungs, another bone, another organ.
I took Zu to Cornell when inconclusive biopsy results were returned. Additional imaging showed her distal humerus had disintegrated, and a lesion on her left lung. Probable metastasis. While I had toyed with the idea of amputation and chemotherapy, the spot on her lung left us with no alternatives.
I brought Zuki home. My vet came to the house, and my lovely, sweet girl went peacefully and gratefully to heaven as I held her and wept.
Zuki would have been 3 on 1/27/12. She cycloned into our home and filled the house with energy and joy. Her death left an enormous hole in our hearts and our home. I miss her more than I can say.