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MrAlexTheDog

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Posts posted by MrAlexTheDog

    Alex, It'll Be Five Years On

    in Remembrance

    Posted

    february 21st of this year will be mark five years since our first greyhound, alex, went on his way. we got him in 1993 at the age of four from the group that would later be known as the greyhound adoption center in la mesa. we had just bought a house, and we wanted to add a dog to our family. we didn't know what breed, although we didn't want a small one.

     

    i was reading the newspaper and saw an article profiling a woman and her retired greyhound. they were appearing with other greyhounds and their adopters at a local pet store, so we went, met them, and applied to adopt a greyhound. within a month's time, we were interviewed, had the home visit, and were approved.

     

    we drove down to la mesa and were presented with three greys whose kennel names were "amadeus", "tehama", and "philbert". we were presented with amadeus first, a black-ticked white greyhound with a thick black eyebrow over each eye and with the tips bitten off of both ears. (he was called "groucho" by the volunteers, and it was so appropriate.) after we saw tehama and philbert, we were trying to decide who to pick. while we were deciding, amadeus demonstrated to us that he could pee a river, and then walked over and leaned against us. well, that sold us (the leaning part, not the peeing part) and rachel wanted him so we asked for him.

     

    on the way home gayle sat in the backseat of our car cradling him; amadeus proceeded to gas all of us in return.

     

    our daughter rachel named him "alex".

     

    we had separation anxiety issues with him -- nearly returned him but with help from tom mcrorie we worked out a routine that he was comfortable with whenever we left. we got him nikki to keep him company:

     

    X-mas98.jpg

     

    he had skin allergies on all of his feet -- his toes nearly lost all of his white hair but gradually grew back as he got older. he had more than his fair share of cancer; the most serious was an amelanotic malignant melanoma that gayle found between his lower incisors, kept an eye on it, and had it examined when she saw it starting to grow. he lost part of his lower jaw because of it but the cancer never returned. finally, he developed a tumor on his spleen that we elected not to have surgically removed because of his advanced age. it ruptured when he jumped off our bed to greet gayle when she returned from a business trip. we had it removed but complications arose, and we had to let him go.

     

    he wasn't the friendliest of greyhounds -- that wasn't him. but he could fall asleep anywhere: at the vet's office while waiting to see the vet, in a ski gondola car at aspen mountain in colorado. he was blase about everything, but once he got so excited watching other greyhounds chase after a lure, his mangled ears stood straight up. every bed, be it human or dog, was his. and the fur on his neck was so thick and soft -- i can't help but compare every other greyhound's fur to his and i don't think anyone has come close.

     

    he was with us for almost ten years, but ten years could never seem long enough. we keep his favorite white teddy bear, still wearing his red leash and collar, his leather collar bearing his tags, atop a bookcase and close at hand.

     

    when autumn comes, when the leaves on the trees begin to wither and fall, when even in southern california the air begins to chill for the winter that is to come, when sirius the dog star, the whitest and brightest of stars, rises above the southeast horizon and climbs up into the early evening sky, i think of him even more often than i already do. i like to think he's watching us from there, and that he's doing okay.

     

    alex (1989-2003), the one who started it all:

     

    246855671_mjMzk-M.jpg

    Mandibulectomy From Oral Fibrosarcoma

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    i'm a late arrival to this thread. our first greyhound had a partial mandiblectomy to remove an amelanotic malignant melanoma from between two incisors in his lower jaw. my wife spotted the growth, kept an eye on it for years, then we had it examined when she noticed it growing. he lost four teeth and part of his lower jaw because this type of cancer is aggressive, does not respond to chemo or radiation, and needs to be surgically removed with wide margins. part of his lower lip was sewn over the resulting hole. alex drooled a little because of the surgery but lived on for several years thereafter. you would only notice the surgery if you looked up at him from underneath. our surgeon did an amazing job on him.

    Colorado Mountain Grey!

    in Introductions & Biography

    Posted

    hi from socal! i drove through glenwood springs many times...my family moved to aspen from los angeles and lived in woody creek for over twenty years before my parents moved to grand junction. i have one brother living in basalt and another in carbondale. i love the roaring fork valley.

    Spindle Cell Neoplasia Or Nerve Sheath Tumor ?

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    our 12-year-old nikki had a spindle cell tumor, her second, removed from her upper inside left thigh the day after new year's. she had chemo beads implanted at the surgery site.

     

    this is after she had her first spindle cell tumor one removed from her left hock and had the beads implanted last september. she had developed a limp over this past summer because the tumor had grown quickly and was pressing against bone. following good results from a blood panel and a cardiac ultrasound, we went ahead with surgery.

     

    so far, her left hock looks to be in good shape. her surgeon found the second tumor during a recheck three months post-op. this procedure to implant chemo beads at a surgery site has been done on over 30 dogs so far over the past year and our surgeon has had very good results.

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