Pet of the Month-April

"Lucky"

Lucky is a cattle dog who was adopted by Milton, an elderly gentleman living in a rural Waupaca County.  He adopted her from a humane society for the companionship.  Milton himself has had health concerns, but through the efforts of a generous friend, Deb, both Milton and Lucky were able to keep their independent lifestyle.

Lucky developed a serious condition called autoimmune hemolytic anemia, a condition in which the body’s immune system attacks its own red cells, often causing a fatal anemia.  Lucky was treated with steroids, and responded well, but shortly after recovering from this condition, she developed acute lymphoma.

Given that extensive chemotherapy was not an option, Lucky was put on the drug Cyclophosphamide.  While lymphoma is rarely responsive to a single agent, Lucky responded beautifully and to this day is in remission, which is rare.

Lucky’s story does not end there, however, and she recently developed a bladder tumor, which was causing her to urinate blood frequently.  She was put on a medication called Piroxicam, which has some mild effectiveness on some bladder tumors.  Again, Lucky responded well, and is currently doing fine.

At some point in time, either the lymphoma or the bladder cancer is going to reoccur, but for now Lucky is happy, and Milton still has his faithful companion.  All of this would not have possible without their friend Deb, who has given so much of herself to protect this wonderful relationship.  We congratulate and thank them all for being such good advocates of the human-animal bond.

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