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Likes: Zeus is a simple fellow - an afternoon nap in the sunshine or a nice belly rub can't be beat.
Pet-Peeves: GOING POTTY OUTSIDE WHEN IT IS NOT IDEAL WEATHER CONDITIONS! If it's rainy? If it's snowing? Is it too cold? Too hot? Meh. Why not pee on the floor? It's just as good, right?
Favorite Toy: The good ol' pigskin.
Favorite Food: He'd prefer a nice ribeye every night - but is more than satisfied with his Orijen.
Favorite Walk: To the food bowl and back to bed.
Best Tricks: After countless hours of intense observation, Zeus taught himself how to open the refrigerator door. Lucky for us, his heads too big to actually get anything! Unfortunately, he taught Grace (his smaller more kniving little sister) to do the same. Figures!
Arrival Story: Our story is not un-like many others. We were looking for our first dog, and had decided without hesitation to get an English Mastiff, the breed my boyfriend had grown up with. (I had only had one old crotchity mean Cocker Spaniel my whole life, so I went with what he wanted.) One day, we decided to call the Petland to see if they had any English Mastiff puppies, just to go see. (I knew I didn't want a petstore puppy, but had never in person seen an English Mastiff puppy. I was curious as to the size I was getting myself into and wanted a sneak preview.) When I called, the lady told me they didn't have any English Mastiffs, but they had one sweet 13 week old red fawn Bullmastiff puppy. I thanked her for her time, but wrinkled my nose and told her that I didn't care for the Bullmastiff breed at all. We decided to go to Petland anyways, for me to pick up a book about English Mastiffs, so I could better educate myself. My boyfriend wandered off, and then feasted his eyes on this humongous puppy who could barely turn around in the ridiculously small cage they had him in. He called me over, and as I looked at what was soon to be Zeus, my heart just melted as he sat there, with his little leg proped out to the side with his big huge sad eyes. After my lapse of better judgement, I asked one of the employees to bring him out to me, and she did. In our little cubicle I fell in love with this ball of wrinkles who had the cutest pudge nose ever, even though I had several bite marks and bruises all over my arms. (He was quite the mouthy puppy!) However, I attempted to practice some self control and said that I did not want him and made every excuse in the book to try and leave him there. ("He's not an English Mastiff...I hate what Bullmastiffs look like when they grow up...I don't want a petstore puppy, ect.") Luckilly, my better half (the one who was buying the puppy for me in the first place) decided otherwise, and an obscene amount of money later, we had our very own Bullmastiff baby home with us! We (he) decided on "Zeus" as his name even before we left the cubicule because of his demanding presence but yet soft deminer. It fits him perfectly. He is a God in his own right! Zeus is my first Bullmastiff, and will certianly not be my last. (Bullmastiffs are like potato chips! You can't have just one!) I thank my lucky stars everyday that I am privledged enough to spend every waking day with this soft, gentle, loving soul. Zeus has truely made me fall head over heels with the breed, and I will never go a day in my life, ever again, without a Bullmastiff by my side, and that's something I will never be able to repay Zeus for. The amount of joy and happiness he has brought into my life is tremendous, and I could never thank him enough. Zeus truely is my sunshine!
Bio: Zeus Carleton (yes, named after the jazzy geeky guy from "The Fresh Prince") was born a sweet old soul, and bless his little heart for that! Zeus was pottytrained from some of the first days we brought him home, and has always been the upmost gentleman. One of my earliest memories I have of Zeus is waking up late one morning and looking at the end of my bed to see little puppy Zeus sitting in his crate oh-so-politely staring at me, not making a single solitary peep as to not awake me, patiently and properly waiting to be taken outside for his morning duty. He is the only living, breathing, walking being on this beautiful green earth that can read me like a book and actually often seems to know my moods better than I do. He is my security when I'm scared, my source of smiles when I am sad and my laughter when I am happy. He has been not only a tremendous joy and a complete pleasure to have in our lives, but an angel sent from above and a true best friend, faithful companion and fierce guardian for me. I don't know how in the world we got so lucky to be blessed with him, but I am thankful for it each and everyday of my life!
Forums Motto: The perfect gentleman. Dogster Local Spots I've Marked: Mission Medvet, Mystic Acres Kennel The Groups I'm In: PETS for OBAMA, Bodacious Bullmastiffs, Concerned Owners for Vaccination Education, No Breed is a Bad Breed, Why would I eat yellow corn meal ?
The Last Forum I Posted In: wormer for whipworm prevention
I've Been On Dogster Since:
Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday to Big Z!
Happy Birthday to me!
Horray! It's my 5th Birthday!
Today has been great so far!
"Grandma" came by this morning -- and said hello to me. However, I didn't much care. I appreciate the thought and everything -- but it was BREAKFAST time!
The celebratory Birthday ribeyes have arrived -- and are fixin' to get grilled up all juicy and warm! Bring 'em on, baby!
Mom was a tad bit upset, because the place she likes to buy our meat (that is a bit of a drive for them) was closed today. THE NERVE! She wanted to get me yummy thick fresh-cut to her specification size steaks -- and maybe a RMB or two for me for my big day. She settled for some pre-packaged ribeyes -- but says that I only deserve the best on my big day -- so was quite dissapointed that they were closed on my Birthday.
Other than that, I got some Plato Salmon Strips (which are my favorite) and some yummy new Sojos Duck and Cherry cookies that I've never tried before. YUM!
My Prednisone is making me super-de-duper ravenous -- and I got ahold of a 20oz. bag of my EVO cookies and demolished every last crub of them the other day -- so I am in dire need of cookies! My Auntie Shaun, cousin Cassius and guardian angel Diesel also sent me some beyond delish cookies on Christmas Eve that I've been snacking on, too! How luck am I?
Well, everypup! I can practically smell them in front of me now! I better go wipe the drool off my jowel before I get it on Mom's keyboard! I bet that wouldn't go over so well!
Z's incision is very slow healing -- very slow. We absolutely cannot start his chemo until it is healed, and it is nowhere near it because of his immune system. It's so very frustrating knowing with every day that passes he could be getting sicker, and that I can't do anything about it.
His spirits still seem high -- though he is not eating with his usual vim and vigor. He still eats all that is sat in front of him, but five times slower than it would generally take him.
He left one of his antibiotic capsules and his vitamin-c tablet in his bowl this morning -- and when I went to pill him (put it down the back of his throat) -- it was the first time that he's ever spit it back out. I'm opting to take it as a good thing -- his being able to protest me like that.
And overall -- I think he just wants to go outside and sunbathe -- but his terrible Mom won't let him because I don't want him getting anything in his incision -- which has pulled through a couple of sutures and it somewhat gaping in spots. I probably should let him -- since it's one of his favorite simple pleasures in life -- but I want that dang thing healed!
Grace is doing much better and adjusting quite well to not being constanatly at his side. For the first 2 weeks he was "sick" -- she refused to perch up on her "blue tube" outside. (It's her private watch spot up on the hill. She can see over the fence into the forest, and look down upon the driveway for intruders, and no other dog is stealthy enough to jump up on that tube but her -- so it's her own throne to oversee her kingdom.) Last night, like the family matriarch, she was finally back up on her tube, cursing at a pack of rowdy coyotes nearby in the forest. Zeus has always been the authority guarding the property with Grace following along in his shadow timidly -- but she seems to have taken the responsibility over all on her own now -- and with enthusiasm and a great demand for respect. I'm happy to finally see her happy again.
Today we ordered a immunohistochemical stain through the lab -- which will be helpful to determine the exact cell of origin (T vs. B
cell lymphosarcoma). We really (really, really, really) need it to be B cell. It may be twoards the end of the week before we get results for this.
We sent in a complete blood panel (superchem, CBC and T4). On his CBC we're really hoping he doesn't have any underlying katastrophies like leukemia. As far as the lymphoma is concerned, we really have our fingers crossed that his calcium isn't elevated. Because if it is, his prognosis isn't as good.
Dr. Larry (a Bullmastiff guy and veterinarian) helped me look at different chemo protocols this weekend -- and had me convinced to go for the Madison-Wisconsin protocol -- which wasn't a hard feat. My boss asked me if I had been reading about protocols and what I thought -- and when I said I thought we should do the Madison-Wisconsin protocol he got a big ol' grin and nodded and was obviously relieved he wasn't going to have to talk me into a protocol I didn't want.
Right now -- we're trying to locate drugs. We're having a hard time locating the vincristine, cyclophosphomide and doxyrubricin we need.
As long as the labwork all comes back the way we want it to -- and when his leg incision is healed -- we will start his chemo.
UPDATE!: Zeus' bloodwork looks absolutely fantastic. His white blood cell count is slightly elevated -- but that can easily be attributed to his healing incisions. His calcium level is normal -- which is phenomenal. We are waiting for his stains to come back still -- but that is no surprise. If all continues to go well, we may start his chemo at the end of this week. :)
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