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Dogster

Golden Retriever

Photo Comments

Home:San Francisco, CA

Sex: Male Weight: 51-100 lbs

Dogster stats for Cheaney 1997 - 2008


Stars:

Leave a bone for Cheaney 1997 - 2008

Nicknames:
Cheanster, Biscuit

Doggie Dynamics:

Energy

sleepy		energetic

Intelligence

silly		genius

Friendliness

aggressive		affectionate

Playfulness

not playful		very playful

Disposition

anxious		calm

Quick Bio:

-purebred

Birthday:
June 5th 1997

Likes:
eating, napping, going for walks around the block, waking us up early for breakfast

Pet-Peeves:
leaving him at home, having his ears cleaned, and waking him up when he's napping

Favorite Toy:
stuffed mini-football

Favorite Food:
his lamb & rice dog food, peanut butter, and doggy treats of course

Favorite Walk:
Union Street

Best Tricks:
balancing a treat on his nose and catching & eating it when you tell him to, on his walks around town he carries his leash around in his mouth

Arrival Story:
He was born in Ohio and flew out to San Francisco all by himself when he was 7 weeks old. He's been a California dog ever since!

Bio:
2/22/08: Sad news about Cheaney: He just woke up one morning and was very lethargic. Also, he wouldn't eat his breakfast so right away I knew something was wrong. I brought him to his vet, and after a battery of tests, they found a grapefruit-sized tumor on his spleen and some blood surrounding his heart. They discovered he was bleeding internally, so they had to perform an emergency surgery on him that afternoon to stop the bleeding. When they opened him up they found another tennis-ball sized tumor on his liver and several others in his intestines. Right away the doctor called me and advised me to put him down on the table because they weren't very confident he'd live through the surgery. Needless to say, I was completely unprepared for this and I just couldn't let him go right there on the operating table because I just wasn't ready. He's "only" 10 years old and I was really praying for a miracle. I told them to try to do what they could to save him as long as he wasn't in any pain and take out any tumors they could. So that was over a week ago, and he's slowly regaining his strength. Talking to the vet now, she's completely stunned he survived the surgery, and she told me that she really thought he wouldn't be alive 24 hours afterwards. She consulted a veterinary oncologist at UC Davis and he said Cheaney has about another 3 months "optimistically". He still can't walk very fast, he gets tired pretty easily, and he starts chemo this Saturday. 3/2/08: Well, we took Cheaney to the veterinary oncologist on Friday, and he didn't have any good news for us. He said that hemangiosarcoma is very common among Goldens and unfortunately, it's the worst form of cancer he could have. He said the best he could do is prescribe some chemo drugs to try to shrink the tumor, but eventually, it will end up bursting and he will die of internal bleeding. He said Cheaney has 3 months or less. The good news is he isn't in any pain at all and the drugs will not have any painful side effects. The only thing we can do is let him live the rest of his life as happily as possible. Cheaney has never had people-food before, but now he eats hot dogs with every meal and we give him bites of food of whatever we're eating. He's pretty funny now--whenever we're eating, he's right there in our faces, expecting to get a bite. He absolutely loves it! I'm just grateful that we have this time to spend with him and we're doing everything we can to make him as happy as possible. 4/12/08: Cheaney died last night. It happened so fast really. I was watching the Cardinals/Giants game on TV and Berit had just gone to bed. It was about 10pm. All of a sudden I heard Cheaney go into some kind of seizure. I rushed over to him and saw that his eyes were rolling to the back of his head. He was breathing very hard, and trying to lift his head. I yelled for Berit and she came over and we were both trying to comfort him. Then I called the Emergency Vet Hospital and described what was going on. They said they needed to see him right away. So Berit got the car and pulled it around and I lifted Cheaney and carried him downstairs to the back seat of the car. His body was completely limp, but he was still breathing. I sat in the back seat with him with his head in my hands trying to comfort him as much as possible. The little guy was still struggling to breathe. He looked like he was just sleeping. I had my face close to his so I know he was still alive. We arrived at the Vet Hospital in about 15 minutes. By the time we got there, though, I was pretty sure he had stopped breathing. I knew he was gone, but Berit ran into the building and got a doctor. They both came out and the doctor checked Cheaney right there with his stethoscope. I was still in the back seat of the car trying to comfort him, but he had already died on the car ride over with his head in my hands. It's very very sad, and I miss him so much. He had been on chemo for a month and a half, and it was definitely taking its toll. Some days he could barely walk, so I stopped giving it to him every day. Yesterday, he was feeling pretty good though. He went on his full walk on Union Street carrying his leash in his mouth, as usual, sniffing everything and peeing on practically every tree. And just 2 hours before he died he had enjoyed a mushroom chili cheeseburger and french fries. He was so happy.

The Groups I'm In:
"Canadian Golden Retrievers" who want to be Friends with other Goldens..., Golden and Shih Tzus Friends

I've Been On Dogster Since:

September 5th 2006