Sequoia

We took our nearly 13 year old Malamute/Chow mix to the vet today, and found out that she has cancer. She has been showing signs of aging as of late, but recently the signs added up to something we were concerned with. She has been losing weight over the last year or more, but we figured it was due to getting old. Over the last couple of months we noticed an odor coming from her that was not fixed by her groom, then a couple weeks ago she got the runs, and had an accident in the house which never happens. After her groom, we noticed her lady parts were swollen. Thinking it might be an infection, we had given her antibiotics, and thought that maybe the antibiotics messed up her digestive system. However, her appetite had not been very good either, so we decided it was time to get her checked out. Her lady parts were still swollen, so the vet took a sample to look at. After some blood tests, and looking at the tissue sample he concluded that she has cancer, and with all the other symptoms, he says it has spread to her liver too. We are definitely sad by the news, but not surprised considering her age. In human years we figure she is in her 90's, possibly even over 100. We have decided to bring her home, make her as comfortable as possible, spoil her and prepare to say our goodbyes. We are unsure how much time she has, but we are preparing ourselves for the inevitable. She has been a really wonderful dog, and we will surely miss having her around!