Hi my name is Kristin and my husband and I are volunteers with Blue Ridge Boxer Rescue and live in South Carolina. Jethro’s journey began when Blue Ridge Boxer Rescue was notified by Northwest Boxer Rescue about this sweet boy that came in as a stray to Greenville, SC Animal Care Services. Thankfully, we have a great working relationship with this shelter and as soon as Jethro’s stray hold was up he became part of the BRBR family. Pictures were sent of him and showed a mass on his left paw and also he tested positive for heartworms and needed to be neutered prior to leaving the shelter. His foster parents (Rusty and myself) picked him up Tuesday evening (1/12/16) after he was neutered, but during his procedure they discovered he had a mass in the left testicle which was sent out for further testing and the final report stated that it was just a non cancerous mass. On Thursday (1/14/16) he was taken to the Vet’s office to be looked at because he sounded like he had a case of kennel cough which he did and while at the Vet’s office they did a needle aspiration to biopsy the tumor on this left paw which came back showing MCT. On Monday (1/18/16) he was taken by his foster parents to NC and BRBR’s medical director met them and took Jethro to a vet well known and trusted by the rescue. Upon further examination it was determined that Jethro now hasd pneumonia and was put on a stronger antibiotic to get this cleared up. Dr. P did a chest x-ray and his lungs were clear which is a good sign and it was decided that the best route for Jethro is to amputate his left front leg in hopes that this will take care of the cancer and he will have a good life and once healed from this he will be going thought heartworm treatment.
January 27, 2016
Sweet Jethro is still fighting pneumonia. The good news is he has gained 4 lbs!
Jethro is going to see a specialist on Wednesday to get a second opinion to find the best possible treatment for him, within our means, & hopefully save his leg.
Please continue to share Jethro’s story.
January 31, 2016
We have a lot to update you all on with how we are going to proceed with Jethro’s leg. He has been on medication to take care of the pneumonia and he is much better now and has gained 4lbs, but still needs to put on a lot more, but this is a good start. It was decided that we were going to seek a second opinion from a specialist and he had his visit yesterday (1/27/16). They ran several test and lab work. Jethro had an Ultrasound of his liver, spleen and lymph node to see if the cancer had metastasized and good news is that everything came back clear which is great. Now the plan is to have him stay with his foster parents for extra TLC and will be on a mixture of medication to try and shrink the tumor then he will return to the specialist in 2wks for a round of Chemotherapy. After this is done we will schedule him for surgery to have the tumor removed in hopes that this will be a low grade tumor and he won’t have to have any further Chemotherapy and follow up every 3months. So long story short we are going to do everything we can to save his leg and make sure he has the BEST life he could ever ask for.
February 8, 2016
Jethro is feeling much better since being home! He is getting lots of love & care & groceries! Jethro loves to play with his foster sisters & brother. He is a happy, young boxer boy!
February 26, 2016
Jethro had surgery to have the mass removed on Thursday, Feb 25. The chemo that he was given a couple of weeks before helped to shrink the tumor. The tumor went down in size to about a quarter of the size. The tumor is being sent off to determine the grade of the MCT. He is doing very good today. He has eaten & been taken off the IV. He is now on oral meds. He is getting a bandage change today. Jethro will get to go back to his foster home tomorrow. His bandages will be changed by the local vet so his healing can have a great outcome. Jethro does have several follow up appointments to be sure all is going well. We are so very, very thankful for everyone’s love & support. He is so very dearly loved. We could not have done this without your support. And we are so grateful that his leg has been able to be saved. I will continue to share update. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts from all of us at BRBR! We have the very best supporters!
March 7, 2016:
Jethro has not been healing as well as we had hoped & unfortunately that means he may have to have skin grafts done. Jethro is now back at the vet’s office & will be there for several more days. Please keep Jethro in your prayers.
