Abby

November of 1997 -- Abby went outside one night and I heard a crack in her ankle, she began to limp.  My Vet and I thought she had broken her ankle so we put a cast on her. Abby kept eating the cast off and her ankle was not getting any better. In January 1998 she seemed to be getting more painful, so we did new X-rays.

The X-rays showed that she had Osteosarcoma in her right front ankle. We decided to immediately amputate her entire leg even though we thought it would only relieve her pain and maybe give us six months to a year with her and follow-up with Chemotherapy.  She had a total of five chemotherapy treatments  which did not seem to ever make her sick, and a chest/lung X-ray every two months or so for the next year.

Much to our amazement, no cancer was showing up in her lungs and she had been leading a normal life with three legs except for the fact that because I thought her time was limited, I allowed her to eat whatever she wanted and she went from 117 lbs. to 134 lbs. and was now having trouble managing herself on three legs. Needless to say, we were hopeful she was cancer free and it took the next 8 months to get her weight back down so she could again walk with no trouble.

We followed all our Vet's recommendations for supplements to help retard cancer from reoccurring, and by the grace of God and Abby's everlasting will to live, she just celebrated her 9th birthday on June 25, 2002 and is still as amazing as ever--she is my best friend!

Abby before & after

Abby and her mom wish to thanks the following Veterinarians for extending Abby's life.

Robert Weadick, DVM
Lee Schrader, DVM, Diplomate, ACVIM

HHGDR wants to thank Abby and her loving mom for sharing her story.

All images and text on this site Copyright © 1998-2024 Harlequin Haven Great Dane Rescue, Inc. unless otherwise credited. Use of any image or text without written permission is expressly forbidden. All rights reserved.