A Slice of Life … with Andi Joseph – Beloved pets are worth every penny spent to keep them healthy

Published in the August 22 – September 4, 2018 issue of Gilroy Life

Photo courtesy Andi Joseph
Andi’s dogs, Bailey and Cricket, hanging out at the Morgan Hill Dog Park recently.

Why are animals so expensive? I love my two dogs, but they sure can take a chunk out of my bank account.

Case in point, I’ve recently been having some testing done on my rescue Pomeranian, Cricket. Several months ago, she had a lump growing on her leg, so I took her to her normal vet’s office. A needle biopsy and a “sent-out” lab test came back as inconclusive, but the vet said the cells were possibly malignant. A couple shots of cortisone and the lump disappeared.

Shortly after Cricket’s lump magically went away, my other rescue dog, Bailey, began to get a lump on her chest. Off to the vet’s office we went, my fingers crossed.

Fortunately for both Bailey and me, the lump is a benign lipoma — and it only took a couple hundred dollars to make that determination. (Sarcasm.)

But the saga with Cricket continued. The lump on her leg returned.

I again took her to the regular vet to consult with him.

This time around, he suggested Cricket start a chemotherapy drug regime and he went through the potential risks and side effects. This caught me off guard, since the original tests did not confirm whether it was cancer or not.

Since the tumor is on a very small part of Cricket’s leg, he said surgery wasn’t ideal, and his second option was amputation.

After I continued to ask questions, he said he could give her another shot and see if it goes away again. I decided that was the option to go with and made a mental note that should the mass come back yet again, I’d take Cricket to a different veterinarian for a second opinion.

That time came a couple weeks ago, when the mysterious lump returned. Now, let me make it clear: the lump doesn’t seem to bother Cricket at all. Doesn’t seem to hurt, she’s not limping, not licking it, not biting at it. If she was in distress, I’d have it taken care of in one way or another.

I made an appointment and took her to a different vet’s office. He took a biopsy, examined it under a microscope, and ran some other tests. Eventually, he came to the same conclusion as the other veterinarian: inconclusive. The cells in the mass are “a conundrum,” he said.

But instead of chemo or amputation, this vet advised that I keep an eye on it for now. Should it get larger or begin to bother Cricket, he suggested performing a small surgery to cut a piece of the tumor to send to an outside lab for a more thorough examination.

Now, after several months — and almost $1,500 in exams, biopsies, and lab tests later — there’s still no official answer. I’m going to watch the size of the lump during the next few months, and hope that it doesn’t grow.

So, yes, animals can be expensive. But they’re worth every penny.

Andrea “Andi” Joseph worked in newspapers for 18 years before transitioning to her current career as a website content writer and marketer. She lives south of Gilroy with her two dogs, Bailey and Cricket. Email her at [email protected].