Today our schnauzer, Nena, has been in the surgery of our vet. She has had a lump, a mammary tumour, that we should have dealt with much earlier. Money was a bit of the reason, perhaps, for not acting sooner. But that isn't an excuse. As dog owners, it is our responsibility to do the right thing for the health of our dog.
Nena is a lovely member of our family, and I sincerely hope she will be better when she comes home. I've spoken to our vet late this afternoon. He said he had to remove a lot of mammary tissue, and her lymph nodes too. With luck, and with further vigilance on our part, Nena may go on for another good few years.
Nena is nine years old, and has been desexed today, as well as the other surgery. Older bitches who are undesexed are the most likely dogs to get this common form of canine cancer. Nena has had puppies in the past, so wasn't desexed as a young girl, but I will desex my next female dog before she has her first litter. This has been shown to be the best course to take to prevent canine mammary tumours.
I certainly hope Nena will live for another five years - a life of up to fifteen years is not unusual for a standard schnauzer. The cancer problem may have taken a few years off this possibility, but I know we'll do our best to help her go on for more years.
Nena will probably be the last schnauzer we have - the grooming is not fun for me, and I'm not sure I'm prepared to continue doing the grooming for a new dog. Our other dogs are younger than Nena, and they're pharaoh hounds.
The pharaoh hounds are short coated, and have few grooming requirements, beyond toe nails and brushing a little bet when it's hair shedding time. This only happens once a year, usually, and is an easy task. The pharaoh hounds are certainly better that schnauzers in this regard. The schnauzer breed though is a better dog than the pharaoh hound in regards to obedience.
Of our four dogs, I love Nena because she is the most likely to come to me whenever I call her. The pharaoh hounds will only come if they're not doing something else. This can be annoying and even dangerous. The pharaoh hound is only obedient if it wants to be, whereas the schnauzer wants to do what its owner wants it to do. This is surely a lovable thing!
I love Nena too because she is just a sweetie!
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