Mollie's Biopsy: The Results

First of all, if you are one of 'those people' who does not consider your dogs/pets a part of your family- you may not want to read this post. Fair warning!

This weekend our basset hound, Mollie, had a lump removed from her chest. The vet told us they would send it out to the lab for a biopsy, and let us know the results. Yesterday, I checked my voicemail- and got the news. "Mollie's lump was a mast cell tumor, please call me to discuss options." I wasn't expecting that AT ALL! Who leaves that on a voicemail!

My heart dropped. I couldn't react the way I wanted to because I was at work. I wanted to run home and hug her, and cry. I really wanted to cry. She drives me NUTS, she really does. She's been trouble from the start, she's been hard to handle, and she's been expensive. But that doesn't mean I don't love her.

I know there are much larger problems in this world. I know that there are PEOPLE with much larger problems. But she's a part of our family, and this hurts.

Our little troublemaker...

Her prognosis is good, but this is still very scary. The vet told me that mast cell tumors usually aren't aggressive, and she could go for years without getting another one. The problem is that they are unpredictable, so she could get another one relatively soon. It's a 'wait and see' approach.

Unfortunately for Mollie our house isn't a quiet and peaceful place, except during nap time. For now, I just hope she's getting some rest so she can feel better soon. I don't think she's done causing trouble quite yet...

For Love of a Basset

Since bringing home our Mollie over 5 years ago, she has kept it interesting… to say the least. The reason we got a Basset Hound in the first place, was that my husband grew up with one named “Gus”. He was a rascal, and got himself into quite a bit of trouble. His wild streak, and strong will left my husband with fond memories of his childhood pet. The adorable photos of my husband when he was young, holding an adorable, squishy basset hound puppy… that is what did me in. We acquired Mollie from a local pet store, boo, hiss. I know, I know. I won’t ever do that again! Now that we have that out of the way…

[caption id="attachment_886" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Seems harmless enough...[/caption]

The first revelation was that her front legs were not the same size, according to x-rays taken by our vet. She had to have surgery, which the pet store actually reimbursed us for! Poor Mollie. She was only 8 months old when she had her first surgery. It didn’t slow her down! After the first couple days, she wasn’t so ‘drugged up’ and she started running around on her cast… and her three ‘good legs.’ We snuggled, we played, we nursed her back to health.

I could go on for days, but I blogged about the most recent episode here. This weekend, I discussed what our ‘plans’ were before going downstairs. Once I walked downstairs, I saw her licking and licking and licking. So, I looked and she had licked herself raw – likely overnight. TO THE VET! She not only had ‘unidentified insect bites’, but we ended up getting a biopsy of two different TYPES of lumps on her body. What this means is that she has many more bumps, but only two TYPES of bumps. One type turned out to be a keratin cyst- which is equivalent to an ingrown hair, and totally harmless. The other was a tumor. The vet sent the biopsy to the lab, and luckily it’s just a fatty tumor.

[caption id="attachment_882" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Oh, Mollie...[/caption]

Incidentally, the entire experience was hilarious because the vet tech was in love with her and carried her to and from the exam room. He carried her out to the car, because, “She just LOVES being held!” I had to discuss tumors in the waiting room, while ignoring little J’s pleas to help him stuff a giant stuffed parrot into its cage and the enormous poodle sniffing me. Anyways, Mollie is just fine. For now. Everything they tell you with a Basset Hound seems to be OK ‘for a basset.’ Her teeth look fine ‘for a basset.’ Keratin cysts are normal ‘for a basset.’ It seems we are the best customers at the Ladera Ranch Animal Hospital ‘for love of a basset.’

My Mollie

Mollie, with Zachary

Our Basset Hound, Mollie, is 4 years old. In her 4 years, she has eaten MORE than her fair share of items in our household. Her past has included eating a Costco pack of brownie bites, the arm of our couch, several pacifiers, and of course- a pair of knee high boots. Most recently, she destroyed our last pacifier for our 6 month old and our 3 year old's Stegosaurus. I decided that from now on, I'm going to take pictures of her destruction- and post them.

Does anyone else's dog do this, or just mine??