Kacy Is Waiting At Rainbow Bridge

On July 28, 2006, Kacy went to Heaven. Our hearts are broken. We miss her very much. She was a lovable, sweet natured, beautiful creature. She loved (more than anything) to eat. She was so eager to run downstairs and have breakfast every morning. She loved chasing squirrels and as she got older, she would just watch them from a distance. Kacy had the the most gorgeous face and wonderful eyes. When she was happy to see you, she would squint her eyes and roll back her ears and nudge your hand. She demanded attention and if you ignored her, she would do her best to make herself known. The last week of Kacy's life was difficult for her and our family. Her hips just could not support her weight any longer and she was in considerable pain. She was using every ounce of energy she had to just walk or try to climb the stairs.

Kacy was such a special dog and we will never forget the unconditional love she gave all of us. Kacy, we love you and miss you terribly.

Kacy is getting old fast.

In April of 2006 Kacy went for some tests to determine why she has been in so much pain. X-rays revealed severely arthritic hips. She was placed on Rimadyl, glucosomine/chrondroitin, and Sam-E. Kacy also suffers from liver disease and the Rimadyl may not be good for her. She will get blood test results soon and we may have to change her medication. She often has great difficulty going up the stairs. We can no longer lift her into the car because it hurts her too bad. We crate her and then lift the crate into the car. At this stage of her life, the vet's main concern is keeping her as pain free as possible. Sadly, we may be faced with putting her to sleep if the pain gets too unbearable. She's a sweetheart and we can't bear to see her suffering and will be guided by the vet as to when that time will be. Until then, our family will cherish whatever time we have left with her and give her all the love she needs.

Kacy is diagnosed with "discoid lupus"

On November 8, 2005 Kacy was having trouble with her ears and her nose. She constantly shook her head as if she had something in her ears. Her left nostril appeared to have a growth in it. She often snorts because the growth obstructs her breathing. After an examination and biopsy, she has been diagnosed with discoid lupus. If you're interested in reading about the condition, please go here:

http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/delupusdisc.html


She's doing okay and her symptoms have subsided a bit. I keep a close eye on her. She is also having problems with arthritis and with her liver disease, she can only take Rimadyl occasionally. Getting old is no fun!

Kacy Has Another Surgery!

On October 26, 2004, I took Kacy in for a regular checkup. Kacy has had a problem with growths on her skin as well as tumors under the skin. Her vet thought that it would be best to remove all of the tumors now rather than later. Kacy is in her senior years and I was concerned about putting her to sleep for the surgery. She has liver disease and with that and her age being a factor, the vet decided to use gas instead of an injectable anesthesia. She had approximately 10-12 tumors removed. Two of them were quite large (fist size) and the others were relatively small.

She was trooper and came through the surgery just fine. When I picked her up to take her home, I felt so sorry for her. She was covered in stitches and was very sore. She slept on and off for a couple of days and then started feeling a little better. She looks great now without all of those lumps and bumps!

Kacy Has A Splenectomy!

It was October 11, 2002. I came home around 7pm and Kacy just didn't have her usual enthusiasm when she greeted me. I knew immediately that something was very wrong. I loaded her up in the crate and rushed her to the Animal ER. They evaluated her and without saying definitively what the problem was. Since she has a history of liver disease it was leaning towards a flare up. I went home around 9pm and at about 10:30 I called to check on her. They said she was stable and I told them I was going to bed and to call me if they needed to.
At 1:30am I got a call that her belly was distended and they had done a tap and gotten bright red blood. She needed life saving surgery immediately. When they opened her up they discovered that she had two tumors attached to her spleen. One was small and the other one was about the size of a grapefruit. It had ruptured and she was bleeding internally. They removed her spleen along with the tumors but with all of the bleeding they thought she might need a transfusion. They got the blood cross matched and ready to go if it was needed. At this point she was dehydrated and anemic from the blood loss and had a temp over 104. They also said that her liver had some rough spots on it and they weren't sure if it was from her liver disease or possibly cancer.

She was diagnosed (at the time) with Hemangiosarcoma of the spleen. They didn't know how long she had to live. They sent the entire spleen to pathology and it took about a week to get all of the results back. They went ahead and diagnosed her because this is a cancer that they see a lot of and pretty much know what it looks like.

Thankfully the test results came back negative for cancer. The tumor is thought to have been caused by her liver disease. If she stays healthy for the next year then there were no cancer cells in the tumor that ruptured. We are very hopeful that Kacy will be with us for many more years.



October 2002 has come and gone. We are incredibly grateful that Kacy is with us. Her liver disease is being monitored by our vet and so far she's doing okay. She was 12 years old on January 2, 2006 and we are so happy that she is doing well.