Survivors and Celebrations

Petey's Story

Petey is a rescue dog and the love of my life. He started limping in Oct. of 2006. I took him to our vet every few weeks and they kept saying, "Don't worry, He probably pulled a muscle." or something similar. Finally in Jan. 2007 the vet took an xray and said he had a hairline fracture and would put his leg in a cast and send the xrays to the local specialists. We decided to take him there immediately. They diagnosed that he had a nerve sheathe tumor. They said nothing really could be done and he had a month or two. After trying to deal with such a heartbreak we did not accept this and took him the next day to the U.of FL Vet School. They had the same diagnosis but said there was a chance if we amputated his leg and shoulder and removed as much of the tumor as possible wrapped around his spine. This was done on Feb. 13, 2007. A month later he had 3 weeks of radiation in Tampa. Over a year later our little angel is doing beautifully and defied all odds. Thank heaven we went for a second opinion and thank heaven for the wonderful vets at the U. of FL!