Cody's Chemotherapy

This is three-legged Cody, our new arrival we were keeping 'under wraps' until the fall newsletter came out, getting his weekly chemotherapy treatment today.  (Because of an emergency with Cody last week -- see our post Medical Disaster Day -- he's now out of the closet, so to speak, although we won't reveal his entire story until the next newsletter!)  In the photo is our internal medicine specialist in Missoula, Dr. Dave Bostwick, and his vet tech Tracy, giving Cody his chemo via an IV.

Cody would probably prefer that I keep this particular medical problem IN the closet.  He turned out to have an extremely rare cancer called a 'transmissible venereal tumor,' or TVT.  A little embarrassing, actually.  Imagine a red, fleshy, bloody growth resembling a small cauliflower ... deep inside the sheath at the base of the penis.  Now, notice the word "transmissible."  Yep.  Seems you can actually catch this cancer fooling around with your friends.  Uh oh. 

How rare is this?  Dave said that in all his years as a specialist -- and oncology is one of his areas -- he's never seen it, except in vet school.  Dave said one of his veterinary medicine professors had studied this particular cancer.  The professor learned that by simply grinding up the tumor into a slurry and injecting it under the skin of other dogs, it was possible to grow the tumor in those animals.  It's that transmissible. 

When Dave diagnosed this a few weeks ago, our first thought was about the rest of our dogs here, but Dave assured us that unless we saw Cody "engaged" with any of them, they weren't at risk.  Not only is Cody now neutered, but his remaining back leg is so compromised he physically couldn't conduct any risky business anyway.  We've never even seen him try.

The good news is that this tumor is completely treatable with chemotherapy.  Cody is about half-way through his 6-week course of chemo, and the tumor is already about 90% shrunk.

Sometimes we see the strangest medical conditions here at the Rolling Dog Ranch.  Who knew?

(Click on photo for larger image.)

Comments

[Leilani]

Yikes....not a nice male problem to have but thank goodness it's treatable. After Cody's chemo is complete, you can all simply enjoy his new energy!
Welcome to the ranch, unique Cody!

[Roz]

I hope you heal well and quickly, Cody, and look forward to learning more about your story...although we got quite an earful on today's blog.

[ginger & Tobias (the greythound)]

Wow, Cody! You are having a rough time but look at those great hugs that your getting from Tracy. That's a good benefit. I'm so glad that Dr. Dave knows all about these rare cancers, so he was able to know what he was dealing with. You were just doing what comes naturally. Nothing to be ashamed of, my dear. You'll be on the healthy list soon. You're being so good. You so fortunate to be at the RDR, so you can get all the special care that these things require.
Healing hugs,
ginger & Tobias