It all started on July 16th, 2010. All of a sudden, overnight really, a lump appeared on CJs front left leg, right behind the second joint. By the way, CJ (short for Calamity Jane) is my 18-month old long haired Chihuahua-Labrador mix. (no jokes, please, at the visual. My dad had a field day with that one!) My daughter rescued her from the streets around USC around Hallowe'en, 2009. She called late on Monday night with that "Mom, can you do me a favor" little girl voice that reeks of faux-helplessness. Dara found the dog and wondered if I knew of a no-kill shelter. I begrudgingly volunteered to take her overnight and figure it out the next morning. Well, one look at that ziza punim (adorable face) and it was instant love. Needless to say, she never made it to the shelter.
Back to the lump. It wasn't there and then it was. Being the Jewish mother I am, I took her to the vet the next day. Dr. B (the head vet at the center I take her to) wasn't in so I took the first associate available. He said it was probably an insect bite, prescribed some antibiotic and anti-inflammatory and sold me this jar of "magic clay" that was supposed to have curative properties as well as mineral supplements. How could I have been so *%^&-ing gullible??? Well, CJ wouldn't abide by the magic clay (I always knew she was smart) but the lump went down. So I figured it was an insect bite.
However, in retrospect, there were other warning signs that I just attributed to other factors. Her energy level dropped but I just chalked it up to "growing out of puppyhood". her appetite decreased to almost nothing but I assumed she was going through a finicky period (not her first). I went through bag after bag of food samples (getting more and more annoyed by the day). The only things she would eat were EVO and cooked chicken and rice. Both of which I rejected because of their high protein content. Ironically enough, EVO and a high-protein, semi-raw diet are the ideal foods for canine cancer patients. So, in a strange way, CJ was craving what her body needed and the stupid human just didn't listen.
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