Tails from the pack – Another Amazing Tripawds Three Legged Dog Blog

Brunos battle with cancer is over

On Friday October 7th Bruno underwent a 2nd operation to remove a lump that had appeared on the site of his amputation. It had grown very quick and was the size of a tennis ball by the time he had his op. The vet seemed unconcerned about it and said it would only be a 20min operation. He recovered quickly and was up and about as normal by Monday 10th.

On Wednesday 19th Bruno seemed off colour, nothing to alarm us but because we know our dog we knew something was not quite right but another lump was growing. He had his stitches removed by our local vet. That evening and into Thursday 20th he was in pain and would let out a little cry when he moved. We took him to the hospital having convinced ourselves that maybe he was a little low following his chemo session on 5th.

The results from the biopsy that were taken during the operation came as complete shock to us. The cancer had spread, the chemo had not worked and there was nothing else that could be done. The awful decision to let Bruno go and free him from his pain was made there and then. A heart breaking event that all pet owners go through.

So now the initial shock has gone we are all getting used to life without our big brave gentle Bruno. Its hard and things still have us in tears, like when Khumbu sniffed where Bruno had last laid outside and then lay down in the same place, like when Tapa got a little excited and went to check for Bruno under the table (Brunos favourite place to lay). Khumbu seems very flat today, not the bouncy husky we know, we will keep an eye on him.

The support we have received from all over the world has been incredible. From people who knew him, from people who had never met him but followed the adventures of the dogs on Tails from the Pack and from people who have had dogs with bone cancer and gone through the same agony. We would like to thank everyone of you for your kind words through this tough time.

You can view a slideshow of some photos of Bruno here

Have you heard of 2 Million Dogs, well read on. The 2 Million Dogs Foundation is committed to discovering the common links between canine and human cancers and the causes of these cancers through comparative oncology research through education and awareness, empowerment and mobilization (such as the Puppy Up! walks) and through investment and research.

Luke Robinson and his two Great Pyrenees, Hudson and Murphy, embarked upon a cross-country walk from Austin, Texas to Boston, Massachusetts inspired by his late dog, Malcolm, and his life and fight with the disease. The walk actually kicked-off a nationwide grassroots movement to bring awareness to the plight of canine cancer. The trio walked from town to town for 826 days, sharing Malcolm’s story and educating people about the disease. While out on the road, Luke had a vision. “If two dogs can walk 2,000 miles for cancer, then why couldn’t we get two million dogs to walk two miles for cancer awareness?” And the 2 Million Dogs foundation was born.

There are no walks in the UK / Europe, if you think you are up for being a walk coordinator / host either leave a message on here or contact the foundation. It would be great if we could get some puppy walks organised and start to make people aware of this disease.

A very important job

At the beginning of the month I got to help out on the 2nd day of a very important job. I got to go and help the hu’parents & others restore the Caballo refuge. We left Lanjaron at 5am after having met Pepe and Jesús, drove for an hour up to the trailhead where we met Toni, Jonni, Pepito (the mule) and two pupsters. They had spent the night there ready to bring more supplys up to the hut.

Here is me leading the way at first light

and here is a nice close up of me waiting for the humans, mule and pupsters to catch up

The walk to the hut was a slow one because Pepito had to have regular stops for resting after carrying heavy weight all up hill. It was great for me as I had more time to look more for mountain goats.

I might be in the middle of no where but I know where im going

Now you know why I had that stupid look on my face, look at all those mountain goats

So whilst we were having breakfast, a big group of Ibex ran past and the two little pupsters decided they were going after them, much to the amusement of myself and the humans. You see the pupsters had tiny little legs and were never ever ever going to get anywhere near the Ibex.

Pupster 1 seeing the mountain goats. This pupster didnt like me, kept making growly noises at me

Pupster 2 spotting the mountain goats, me, im just trying to make friends

And so after breakfast we continued on our way up the mountain to the hut. Oh and by the way me and pupster 2 did become friends.

Checking out over the edge for mountain goats

I needed to take some time out in the shade as it was very warm up in the mountains

And then we were off again

Not to far to go now, just around that big lump

Look what was watching us. It really stared at me. Its a female Ibex!

Wow I made it to the lovely lake near the hut. Hu’mum took me straight down to the lake for a cool off. It had taken us 5 hours walking just to get to the hut and we hadnt even started work yet!

Into the lake for a nice cool paddle and drink

Whilst the humans worked, I supervised the goings on. Pepito had his goods taken off his back and was led down to the lake for a cool drink and rest before he, the muleteers and pupsters headed back down the mountain again. I sat in the shade, looked in through the window whilst hu’mum, hu’dad and Jesús set about painting and Pepe put the door to the hut on!

Me watching Pepito, the muleteers and pupsters at the lake whilst sat in the shade

Sat in the shade wondering why hu'mum keeps taking pictures of me and not working

Wondering if I could get in through the window and help with the painting

Me, hu'dad and Jesús having a rest after painting

I moved position for sleeping so I could get a different view up the valley

Whilst we were outside having finished painting we started to get flybys from Griffon Vultures. We all know how much hu’mum loves these birds and she gets very excited when they appear in the Sierra Nevada. Im afraid this was the best photo she could produce from this camera.

Griffon Vulture flying over the Caballo hut

And after the rest we had to head back down the mountain to the car. We reached the car in 2 hours. We would have been quicker but I got rather hot, as you saw from the pics there is very little shade up there, it was hotter than we had all expected. When we did reach any kind of shade I made a run for it. Hu’mum began to worry about me, she stopped with me under some trees lower down for a good 20 mins allowing me to recover before the final 10 mins back to the car. Boy was I hot. The best part about being a hot dog is that I got to ride in the back of the pickup rather than boot. Me and hu’mum shared the back seat all the way down to Lanjaron.

Hanging out the window catching some cool air whilst sharing the back seat with hu'mum

You can read hu’dads report its more informative about what we were upto and shows pictures of the hut and also read how you can help with more restoration work of other mountain huts in the Sierra Nevada.

Brunos 1 month ampuversary

Today is one month since Bruno had his amputation. Everyday he becomes stronger and he is walking further and further on his walks. He is having more challenging walks. He joined me and hu’mum on the first part of our walk before we went our separate ways. There are no flat easy roads where we live so he has had to deal with walking up and down hill on difficult terrain from the outset. The photo below shows how great he is looking and the video shows the type of terrain he has to deal with. He has the occasional accident but he learns from each trip.

His first chemotherapy session has gone without a hitch. The first day after the chemo he slept the day away and since then he has been fine other than a little picky about his food. We are using a herbal tonic to help him through any side effects from the chemo which we got from a very helpful vet called Ray O’Mahony MVB MRCVS CVH and his company Phytoforce. We all think that within a month Bruno will be joining me again on walks 🙂

Brunos walking 1 month after amputation

Walkies in shifts

Since Bruno had his amputation we do our walkies in shifts. Todays post shows you what I got upto on my walk and what Bruno got upto on his walk.

The sky was big and the sun was just rising

The birds were hanging out and getting ready for the sun to arrive

Going back up hill and the sun has still not arrived

What was that? Can you see where my hair has still not grown back yet

Wooo goodie its the game of catch the pigeon

I guess they didnt trust a cute looking husky!

Then it was Brunos turn.

Bruno sporting his new harness. It has a handle on the top to help the hu'parents catch him should he tumble

Ok so it had slipped a bit, well he is a tripawd after all.

Look how fast Bruno can go now, 3 weeks after amputation!

I waited at the gate for Bruno to come back from his walk

Then we had cuddle time whilst we waited for breakfast

Bruno becomes a tripawd

Monday August 1st we got the phone call from the vet to confirm that Bruno does have cancer and amputation was the next step. I went straight to youtube and located 2 videos of Leonbergers that had had amputations. One had a front limb amputation and one had a back limb amputation (Chicos mum has been in touch with us, we thank her for her support). Seeing these videos gave us some hope, that big dogs can adapt to amputation. On Wednesday morning we drove to the veterinary hospital in Granada with mixed emotions. Happy that Bruno was going in for amputation and would be pain free but scared to death that he was going to go through such major surgery.

We were the only clients at the hospital at that time and we were asked to stay and help Bruno through his premeds. The anaesthetist who was dealing with Bruno had an incredibly kind aura about him. He made Bruno calm, us calm and we were happy to leave Bruno in his hands. Wow what a day we had waiting to hear how the operation had gone.

We got the phone call early in the afternoon to say the operation had gone well, Bruno had been strong throughout and we could pick him up at 7pm. I cant tell you how happy we were but also a little scared wondering how on earth we were going to deal with a newly amputated Brunoberger. To be honest we expected him to stay in hospital at least over night, but no, he was to come home with us. The anaesthetist met us and talked us through his medication and then they wheeled Bruno in on a trolley. I had to fight hard not to burst out crying at the sight of him lying on the trolley as high as kite on his medication looking completely helpless. And I admit I wondered what the hell had we done to him. How naive were we, we expected a walking dog to be handed back to us! No matter how many images, videos etc you see of animals after amputation, to see your own beloved friend in that situation was a complete and utter shock.

He was wheeled to the car and four of us lifted him in. We phoned our local vet in Lanjaron to ask for his help in getting Bruno from the car into the house. He came up with a great idea in using a sheet to carry him. So with myself, Richard, Jose and Eva we brought him into the house. Emma had stayed behind to look after Khumbu, he hates to be left without Bruno and needless to say he was very happy to see him home again.

Khumbu sticking close to his furbrother Bruno, 1 day after amputation

We assumed Bruno would sleep through the night, but no, at 2am we heard him get up, we shot out of bed to find Bruno standing in the lounge. Turns out he needed the toilet and was not going to go in the house. He shot off outside nearly at a run, we struggled to keep up with him, terrified he was would topple over and open his wound up. As it is he did his business came back inside and went to sleep which is more than can be said about us.

Bruno chilling out on the rug with Khumbu close by, 8 days after amputation

The first week was tough, more so for us due to lack of sleep, we were up every time we heard a noise, usually it was Bruno just shifting position. Each day Bruno has improved. He has taken a couple of falls and one particularly nasty one, but he has learnt from them. His cocktail of drugs has got less and now he is off all medication. We have him on something called Transfer Factor Plus to boost his immune system. He is going out for daily walks, ok so they are not far but he is getting further each day and each day he is getting stronger. He has even now learnt to balance himself and cock a leg to pee so he stands on 2 legs for a short while!! Did we make the right decision in amputation, absolutely, 3 legs are just as good as 4 and we have a happy pain free Bruno. Because he is nearly back to himself we do have to remind ourselves that he has cancer and we still have a major battle ahead.

An excellent information site is the bonecancerdogs websites bone cancer group. People on here are all going through or have been through similar situations and are incredibly kind people. Another useful information site and community is Tripawds.

So now we wait for Tuesday to have his stitches removed and then I guess we find out about the chemotherapy. Thank you all so much for your continued support and good wishes, it means a lot to us and gives us strength during the hard times, of which there have been many.

A bit of useless information for you, the leg that was removed from Bruno weighed in at 4.5kg!!

Khumbus call of the mountain

Wooo I got to go camping with hu’dad and his friends in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I had a great time. It was hot on the way up, we walked for around 7hours to reach our camping area. I seeked out the shade and paddled in the lakes and streams, there were even patches of snow left for me to roll in. They took me on a nasty path, where I cried, dug my feet in etc. They had to hoist me over 1 section!

Sleeping on the grass and trying to move in on hu'dads bivvy

We slept at 3000m and it was a lovely cool 4C at night, perfect husky weather. All the way up there were lots of mountain goats, yum yum, but I wasn’t allowed to go catch dinner for the night! Even throughout the night the mountain goats were around keeping me entertained. I slept next to hu’dad on some lovely grass, we dont get much of that down here at home. I stayed on fox duty for most of the night and did a good job as not one came to visit us camping.

Watching out for those mountain goats and foxes

I woke hu’dad up at first light with a husky kiss and had cuddles. We then set off for home following the Rio Lanjaron, it took about 3 hours to reach the car. On the way down we saw 10 Griffon Vultures circling in the skys above us, hu’mum would have loved to have seen them, but she had to stay home nursing Bruno. I got lots of praise for being such a good boy. It was my first ever camping trip and I did great.

Walking down the Lanjaron Valley following the Rio Lanjaron and passing by Cerro de Caballo

Here is a link to hu’dads post he did about our trip and below is a video of my couple of days in the mountains. The music is by a great Spanish group called Café Quijano and the song is La Duquesa, hope you like the video and the music.

And a few more pics :-

Smelling the cool mountain air mixed with goat and fox smells mmmmm

Wooo look there is a patch of snow under my nose

Trying out the puppy look to see if I could score some camp food

Strange shot, but I guess I was dreaming of chasing mountain goats

Looking up at the snow wondering if I could get there and catch a mountain goat at the same time

Bruno has bone cancer

My big furbro Bruno is not well. He started out showing signs of lameness, over a week or so the lameness got worse. He went to the vet who took a few x-rays and diagnosed osteoarthritis. He was put on the anti-inflammatory tablets Norocarp. But Brunos lameness got worse, he cried in pain and wouldnt use his front right leg.

The hu’parents called the vet out for a home visit. After sorting my ear out, yes I got an infection, he looked at Brunos leg again. The leg moved fine until manipulation of the shoulder when Bruno would cry. He told the hu’parents they had to go to the Veterinary hospital in Granada because they had specialised equipment and would be able to see what was going on.

The appointment was made for the next day. Bruno was put onto the examining table, thats a first for Bruno, all work is normally carried out on the floor because of Brunos size. He went off for an x-ray. An hour or so later the hu’parents were back in the vets office and were told the devastating news. Bone cancer, very aggressive. Choices were amputation of the leg if not spread to the heart and lungs, followed by chemotherapy, if it had spread then just chemotherapy or euthanize. The oncologist was scheduled to phone on Monday to talk through the options. The hu’parents were sent away with a concoction of pain killers for Bruno.

On Sunday the hu’parents met up with a couple who live in the village with their Labradoodle Benji. He had been diagnosed with a different type of cancer last year and only given months to live. They started chemo straight away and although Benji is not cured he looks fantastic and is living his normal life again. They explained what the hu’parents could expect once the chemo was started. The hu’parents left feeling much more positive.

The oncologist eventually phoned on Tuesday and Bruno was booked in for Thursday. The hu’parents took Bruno in expecting him to be having amputation. The vet said he was 95% sure it was cancer but could not remove a limb without being 100% sure, so a biopsy was needed. Also an x-ray was to be done of his chest to see if it had spread and his bloods were checked. He stayed in for the day. When the hu’parents went to fetch him they were told that the cancer had not spread, chest x-ray and bloods were clear. This is great news, although the x-ray appeared clear there could still be traces of cancer there, but he stands a better chance of survival as there are not more large tumours to hit. So we now wait for the biopsy results to tell us what type of cancer he has and how to proceed, but amputation is definite.

There is no cure for this cancer but with Bruno being strong and wanting to live we have decided to go with chemotherapy to prolong his life. The chemo will allow him a quality of life, without it he will be dead in less than 3 months. We are under no illusions that we are all in for a tough ride ahead and im sure there will be times when we question our decision, but if we can get through the tough times we know we will have made the right decision. What time he has left with us is anybodys guess, maybe 9 months, maybe a year maybe longer but so long as our boy is enjoying life we will do everything we can for him.

We have had incredible support from all over the world via facebook and twitter with thoughts, prayers and pawcircles and you know what its worked. It is gut wrenching to hear Bruno cry and frustrating when you feel the medical side of things are not moving fast enough. Everyone has helped us stay focused and positive and we would like to thank everyone of you for your support.

A couple of people (you know who you are) have mentioned the herb wormwood (Artemisinin) in helping fight the cancer cells and have proof that it helps. Dogs who were given just 6 months to live have managed to live a fully normal healthy life for another 3 years or more. Thank you for pointing us in this direction we are in contact with a company and waiting to hear back from them to see if they can help us. This herb can be used in conjunction with the chemotherapy. I found this website called Bone Cancer Dogs which has been a great source of information but we found this page of most interest, how can you not try wormwood after reading it.

A word of advice, should you have a large dog who is lame, be on the safe side and ask for an x-ray straight away. Its often far to late to save the dogs life by the time its been diagnosed, usually the dog gets treated for arthritis etc for months before cancer is finally picked up. We found some shocking statistics whilst searching the internet, 50% of Leonbergers deaths are due to bone cancer! If anyone out there has any more help and advice they want to share with us, please do contact us. Also mentioned to us is the Telomerase cancer vaccine if anyone has any experience of this vaccine please let us know.

So that is where we are at the moment awaiting the biopsy results, awaiting amputation, awaiting chemotherapy and awaiting the big fight and by god its going to get one hell of a fight from us.

Who are tails from the pack?

We are “a pack” who live in Lanjaron in Andalucia. Our village is the gateway to las Alpujarras, the southern foothills of Spain’s Sierra Nevada mountains. We live with our 2 hu’parents. Bruno (Leonberger) the largest member of the pack is now a tripawd due to bone cancer. He gets along just fine 🙂 Im a Siberian Huksy, and im usually the story teller of the adventures of what myself and brofurs get upto. We hope you enjoy reading our stories and looking at our pictures.

We also have our own website where you can catch up on stuff from the past Tails from the Pack. From now on we will update this bloggie too.