I can't profess to be a much of a dog lover. While growing up in India, my family never had a pet. I ached for a parrot but somehow a caged bird wasn't my cup of tea and moreover my father never really agreed on letting me keep one.
Fast forward a couple of decades and travel several thousand miles and here I am in USA the land of the free and the home of the dog lovers. About 12 years ago, I caved into my kids and wife's desire to get a dog. We brought home a chubby golden retriever with a penchant for mischief and named him dodger. No one liked the name but since I am a big fan of the LA Dodgers, my condition for getting the dog and naming him Dodger did not face stiff resistance.
Years passed and Dodger has grown on me. I still can't let him lick my face and stand to have him breath on me but other than that, I am good to go. The standard unconditional love sans the unending greed for food and a penchant for cuteness beyond anyone's imagination has me completely swept off my feet. Well maybe not completely but I do love this dog.
The purpose of this blog was to highlight a condition we faced with Dodger recently as it may help others who are facing the same dilemma. Dodger over the years developed lipoma's all over his body. Some were small to begin with but grew over time. We took him to the vet early on and they ran a gamut of tests on him including a biopsy which came back negative, much to our collective relief.
The vet suggested surgery but told us that if it the Lipoma's were not bothering Dodger's mobility or otherwise grew bigger, we had nothing to worry about. Time went by and Dodger started developing more Lipoma's. My wife and I were in a quandary. On one hand we wanted to get these removed and on the other, our Dog was getting old and we were still unsure if these bothered him.
In December we decided to take Dodger in for surgery. It was an opportune time as both my wife and I had plenty of time off during the holidays which would allow us to be at home with Dodger. Having done plenty of research on the web, we still found ourselves unsure if we should proceed with the surgery. Upon doing further research, I stumbled upon an article from a lady who was facing a similar dilemma. You can read it here. This blog post convinced us to have Dodger's Lipoma's removed.
On the day of the surgery, Dodger went into the clinic and was extremely apprehensive and restless. The surgeon gave my wife the perfunctory speech about the risks from surgery. My wife left Dodger at the clinic and we patiently waited. The news was positive, Dodger had done well. He had a lot of fatty tissue removed and had been sutured up. A day later, we brought him home. The sutures were tough to manage. With Dodger's mobility it was hard for the sutures to heal completely as they kept oozing, requiring frequent trips back to the vet. A second follow up procedure was performed to drain the fluids from his wounds and he was re-sutured. The hard work that my wife put in has paid off tremendously. Dodger has done remarkably well and has more energy than before. One of the best outcomes of the surgery has been that we have started feeding him home cooked food and stopped giving him store bought dog food. It's a basic recipe of rice, minced chicken or beef with lots of vegetables (celery & carrots). With this new diet, Dodger sheds less hair than ever, has lost weight and is more energetic. I personally think that we have not only added more years to Dodger's life but have made the rest of his life better.
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| Dodger Dog |
Fast forward a couple of decades and travel several thousand miles and here I am in USA the land of the free and the home of the dog lovers. About 12 years ago, I caved into my kids and wife's desire to get a dog. We brought home a chubby golden retriever with a penchant for mischief and named him dodger. No one liked the name but since I am a big fan of the LA Dodgers, my condition for getting the dog and naming him Dodger did not face stiff resistance.
Years passed and Dodger has grown on me. I still can't let him lick my face and stand to have him breath on me but other than that, I am good to go. The standard unconditional love sans the unending greed for food and a penchant for cuteness beyond anyone's imagination has me completely swept off my feet. Well maybe not completely but I do love this dog.
The purpose of this blog was to highlight a condition we faced with Dodger recently as it may help others who are facing the same dilemma. Dodger over the years developed lipoma's all over his body. Some were small to begin with but grew over time. We took him to the vet early on and they ran a gamut of tests on him including a biopsy which came back negative, much to our collective relief.
The vet suggested surgery but told us that if it the Lipoma's were not bothering Dodger's mobility or otherwise grew bigger, we had nothing to worry about. Time went by and Dodger started developing more Lipoma's. My wife and I were in a quandary. On one hand we wanted to get these removed and on the other, our Dog was getting old and we were still unsure if these bothered him.
In December we decided to take Dodger in for surgery. It was an opportune time as both my wife and I had plenty of time off during the holidays which would allow us to be at home with Dodger. Having done plenty of research on the web, we still found ourselves unsure if we should proceed with the surgery. Upon doing further research, I stumbled upon an article from a lady who was facing a similar dilemma. You can read it here. This blog post convinced us to have Dodger's Lipoma's removed.
On the day of the surgery, Dodger went into the clinic and was extremely apprehensive and restless. The surgeon gave my wife the perfunctory speech about the risks from surgery. My wife left Dodger at the clinic and we patiently waited. The news was positive, Dodger had done well. He had a lot of fatty tissue removed and had been sutured up. A day later, we brought him home. The sutures were tough to manage. With Dodger's mobility it was hard for the sutures to heal completely as they kept oozing, requiring frequent trips back to the vet. A second follow up procedure was performed to drain the fluids from his wounds and he was re-sutured. The hard work that my wife put in has paid off tremendously. Dodger has done remarkably well and has more energy than before. One of the best outcomes of the surgery has been that we have started feeding him home cooked food and stopped giving him store bought dog food. It's a basic recipe of rice, minced chicken or beef with lots of vegetables (celery & carrots). With this new diet, Dodger sheds less hair than ever, has lost weight and is more energetic. I personally think that we have not only added more years to Dodger's life but have made the rest of his life better.
