Woody’s Puppy Paws Painting
Woody
At Helena’s Barktoberfest 2018, I had the pleasure of meeting Woody and his human, Melissa. Woody was a fantastic artist, but I recently found out that he had crossed that rainbow bridge and found peace on the other side. I wanted to share Woody’s story through Melissa’s own words (with her permission, of course). My hope is that everyone has the opportunity to have such fond memories of their pets. If you want a way to remember how much fun our fur-babies can be, please contact me for a session.
I saw Woody posted online the week of Christmas last year by the Sylacauga Animal Shelter. I fell in love with his sweet little face and worried about him all of Christmas. I knew I couldn't let this little old man stay in the shelter. He was approximately 12 (I feel like that is conservative) and had medical issues that the shelter knew of--including being blind in one eye and being malnourished. I picked him up the day after Christmas and took him directly to my vet at Hope Animal Clinic. I didn't intend to keep Woody as I already had 3 rescue beagles and a rescue terrier at home. However, his lab results didn't come back good--the vets though he was in renal failure--and I decided I would keep Woody to hospice him. He spent a few days at the vets office on IV antibiotics for a severe UTI and then I took him home. He obviously had other issues--he was an old man and hadn't been neutered and he had a large lump on his upper jaw which turned out to be a severely abscessed tooth. However, he was too sick to have these issues treated at that time. Woody was taking as many as 5 different types of antibiotics each day to try and improve his kidney situation. After one month, he went back for a recheck and his kidney levels had improved. He wasn't in renal failure!! He was, by this time healthy enough to be neutered and to have a dental to remove that bad tooth. He recovered quickly from both of these and I could tell he was feeling much better. He hadn't had much human interaction and had definitely never spent time inside of a house but he very quickly came to love living inside, sleeping on the sofa and my bed, and being touched and loved. Unfortunately before long, I noticed blood dripping from him on occasion. He was treated aggressively for UTI's but the issue would only clear up for a day or two and then return. A biopsy was performed and it was determined that he had prostate cancer and it was advanced. He received this diagnosis just 6 months into being with me. Naturally, I was devastated but determined to give this sweet boy as much joy as possible in whatever amount of life he had left. The vet told us treatment wouldn't extend his lift by very long and I just didn't want to put him through that for what would probably amount to a few extra pain-filled months. However, I started treating him holistically. He does take a very low dosage chemo pill daily but other than that, I have him on a raw diet and supplement with CBD, Hemp treats, goats milk, turmeric...you name, it, we are doing it. Woody was given a diagnosis of 6 months but we are now around the 4 month mark and he is healthier than he has been since last December. He has gained weight, runs and plays with my other dogs, and is getting loads and loads of love. He is such a happy boy and I just know he is going to exceed that 6 month prognosis. We give him so many things to help with the cancer but the greatest of these, I think, is love. A pill can only do so much but I do think that love can cure. I'm so thankful this sweet one came into my life!