Help Cassie Fight Cancer

Please help Cassie fight cancer

Cassie started missing meals at the end of August and we took her to our local vet who gave her antibiotic and anti-inflammatory injections as her belly was bloated. She ate something that night but stopped again the next day. An xray showed that she had an enlarged spleen, 3 times the size it should be, which meant that she was fighting some kind of an infection but they didn't know the cause of it. The vet told us that the enlarged spleen meant that she didn't want to eat as it was pressing against her stomach making her think that she was full. The xray was followed up by an ultrasound the next day which showed a slightly enlarged liver. Blood tests were clear and she didn't have any other problems that the vet could see. A urine sample showed traces of blood.

She was given a course of antibiotics and vomited again so we had to take her back to the vet the next day. They thought it was a reaction to the antibiotics and gave her an anti-vomiting injection, another injection for a different type of antibiotics and another course of tablets. She ate a small amount again that night, 3 days since her last meal.

She was 3 days into the new course of antibiotics when she started vomiting again and was nauseous a few times as she was drooling, a prelude to vomiting, but not actually sick on these times. It was now 4 days since her last meal and we took her back to the vet again. She was losing weight quickly and her bones were starting to show through her fur but because she had this bloated belly, it was hard to tell just how much weight she had lost, the only indication was that her face had become gaunt.

Then followed another visit to the vet who gave her a steroid injection this time and another anti-inflammatory injection. She was very dehydrated due to the warm weather and her not drinking that much, even though we tried to get her to drink and she seemed to have a strange taste in her mouth. The vet admitted her and put her on a IV drip to get some fluids into her. Other tests remained inconclusive. The vet suggested surgery to remove the enlarged spleen.

They rang us to pick her up a few hours later and she was really happy to see us, wagging her tail and seemed a lot brighter, though a little slow on her feet from being so weak. All-in-all, it was a puzzle as to what was causing her illness. None of the tests showed any mass in her organs, so they ruled out cancer. That evening, she managed to eat a small amount of chicken, and they were ready to take her in the next day for surgery to remove her spleen.

Before surgery they did a blood test which showed that her platelets were low, so they advised against surgery as it would likely cause haemorraging. They sent her blood away to a lab to see if they could do a more thorough test but they couldn't find anything wong and, strangely, the platelet count was normal this time, a couple of hours after the last test. She was also showing as slightly anaemic but another urine test showed no blood there. The vet rang us after the blood test result and said they would keep her in on a drip again to give her some fluids as it seemed to be helping her. Later that afternoon, we went to collect her and the vet advised that we send her to a specialist vet clinic where they could do more tests to try and find out what was causing her spleen to remain so large. We did some research online of a few recommended specialists and decided to get her in as soon as possible to the most local one. Our vet got her an emergency referral for 10am the next day. Again, once home that evening, she seemed brighter but still refused to eat.

The following day, it was a 40 minute car trip to the clinic and she had only been used to being in the car for 10 minutes at a time to the local vet. She just sat there looking at me on the back seat of the car for the whole journey. We got there early and she walked around a bit outside for a while, finally settling down on some grass and enjoying the sunshine. We had to leave her in overnight for a series of more comprehensive exploratory tests, including another xray, ultrasound, blood and urine tests. The tests showed that her liver was more enlarged than last week and they decided to biopsy both her spleen and liver and send them away for testing. We got the results today and were told that she has lymphoma. They are keeping her on a drip at the clinic and gave us the option of chemotherapy treatment which would be a 15-week course and will prolong her life by up to a year.

Cassie has always been the most sweet natured and loving dog and we feel that we should give her a chance at fighting this awful disease and have agreed to the treatment. Whilst we do have some insurance, it won't cover all of the costs involved and we need to raise money for it. There is someone with her at the clinic 24/7 and she is on a drip but still won't eat anything. She's unlikely to start eating until her spleen starts to shrink.

Costs involve the price of the tests she's already had done, plus chemotherapy treatment over the period of 15 weeks. Once she starts eating again, she will be allowed to come home and will need to go back for treatments on a weekly basis so there is the added cost of the car journey there and back and toll costs.

I've had her since she was a pup and she has never been away from home before. We are really missing her, as is our rescue dog, Rex, who has been moping around since she disappeared from the house. He doesn't really understand why she's gone and is very upset.

Any donation, no matter how small, would be a great help.

Please keep her in your prayers.

Thank you.

Cassie, Tracy, Mark and Rex xx

Note: The main photo was taken when she was well and the second one a few days ago.