That's funny. One of mine will only really get going on a howl (like if we come home at an odd time or they're especially riled up) if he has a toy in his mouth. Not any special toy, just any random one that is nearby. I wonder If it is keeping his mouth open partly that shoes it and I ownde if being upside down makes it easier.

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone.

Been a tough week for sure, but looking back, it was definitely time. As my wife said, until we can find a way to make Vampire dogs that live forever, we have to deal with this if we want the good times.

Well, looks like based on the last couple of nights. Its time for the poor girl. Still amazed at how lucky we are compared to many others with dogs that have cancer. Nearly 6 years from the initial diagnosis and surgery. Multiple relapses and being able to knock it back, all while most people would never have a clue there was anything wrong with her. (can't tell you how many people would ask how old she was and be surprised she was not a young dog, some even thought she was a puppy though they were probably not familiar with Basenjis)

When I started this thread, I thought she was a week or two from death and we got almost another year and a half. Again, while she still seemed in great shape.

But, the last three weeks have not been that good to her, especially the past weekend. I am taking her by the Vet School for them to have some time with her and this afternoon, she has her final car trip.

@DebraDownSouth:

A couple of people and vet tech friends said the new Hill Science kidney canned diet stew was universally loved so I ordered it for now. The vet says her protein loss is big, but the BUN and Creatinine are not horrible and her phosphorous is actually normal. I wondered if my always feeding high quality protein and limited grains has helped.

I wonder also if you can use cyproheptadine on them for appetite? Right now she is fine, but I'll ask if it's okay. I already have her on generic pepcid just because of the steroids and the vet said keep her on it.

Kim I wonder if you are thinking about aluminium hydroxide powder?

On force feeding… I force fed Sayblee for over 6 mos before cyproheptadine was recommended. Fortunately she would swallow whatever I put in her mouth, didn't fight. Not sure if Arwen would be so compliant. But really, if I can't help control the nausea enough for her to eat... that may be the time to let her go.

Interesting, we just found out one of ours, Tigger, has potential Kidney issues also. Very weak urine, constant drinking and urinating. Tests show some values out of wack and they want us to come back in a few weeks for follow up tests. The vet gave us some of that Science Diet stew stuff and he loves it (honestly, it looks like it could be a can of beef stew for human use to me). But, I also think the Science Diet food leaves something to be desired regarding ingredients, so we are going to start looking for other options as soon as we can. right now, we are dealing with the decline of his sister, Lion due to cancer, so hopefully we will be able to do some proper research on his food soon.

So, the treatments for the Lymph nodes worked mostly. Reduced most of their swelling (except one that's always been the worst) and kept it stable. But, when we went in for the last dose of Chemo and they did an ultrasound about 2 weeks ago, they found another type of cancer was in her spleen. At this point, we are pretty much out of reasonable options and she has actually been declining in the last 7-10 days. I guess three different kinds of cancer was just too much!

At this point we are just trying to keep her eating. Her staple of grilled chicken that we could always go to stopped working. She will pretty much only eat steak, pork and treats right now. Going to try Baby Food, but we have tried some stuff from Honest Kitchen that others have said worked great as well as Raw Goats milk and some kind of Fish liquid that was truly gross and she does not want. Just trying to decide the right time for her, but she still seems to be in decent shape when she looks at you and can walk around fine. Lots of cuddles and belly rubs, which she will always roll over for. We had some family over this past weekend and she got tired of being petted.

I feel like sometimes other dogs have a bit more trouble figuring out our Basenjis moods due to the tail. The tail angle and movement are pretty good indicators and it seems like the Basenji tail being different confuses some dogs for a minute. I wonder if dogs with docked or naturally short tails have similar issues or if I am just crazy?

Just had a checkup yesterday and she again has swelling in most of her lymph nodes. She is going to undergo one more type of Chemo, it is a protocol used in dogs for other types of cancer and in humans for multiple myeloma, but there is not much research for use in dog on multiple myeloma. They typically would do this along with a corticosteroid, but with her past history that is not an option.

She still seems healthy outside and no one would know she was sick, though we notice she has slowed down a little bit, but again, she will be 14 in December. So, we figured we would try this as essentially the last resort as the side effects are not expected to be too bad with this protocol.

If it has no effect on the size, of the nodes then we know we have done all we possibly can and will just have to make sure she is comfortable. She is a good dog.

Ours can be pretty obstinate about peeing as well. We brought treats to give to them when they went and then we would shake the can a bit to let them know we had them. Eventually they started associating the sound from that to peeing. Once we realized that, we started doing it right as they peed and it worked even better.

We have two litter mates and faced a similar struggle. They had never been apart and we did not want them to have to face being alone. We got a puppy when they were close to 7 and it worked out pretty well. Having the younger puppy made them act younger too and they played much more than before. No kids though.

Mine hate the wet grass too. They will even hold up one foot trying desperately to keep at least one dry. Its quite silly.