Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Today was "run around town" day in Missoula — among other stops, a press check on the fall newsletter at the printer, taking Molly and Priscilla to the groomers, and the thing that's been weighing on us … having blind Goldie checked for a new set of skin growths.  Goldie has already had a couple of surgeries to remove cancerous growths in recent years, which is why we were alarmed to see three new lumps develop.  So I took her to see our internal medicine specialist in Missoula, Dr. Dave Bostwick, this morning for a medical exam.  That's vet tech Alex holding Goldie while Dave looks at two growths on her left front leg; a third growth was on her back at the base of her tail. 

The good news is that two of the lumps are basically warts, but one of the growths on her leg was most likely a basal cell carcinoma.  Although a carcinoma, these tumors "behave" in a generally benign fashion, meaning they are local and don't spread.  We'll need to remove it and send it in for a biopsy to know for sure what it is.  And because the warts are something Goldie will continue to lick, chew on and generally "worry" — which will only make them grow larger and more inflamed — Dave will take them off at the same time.  We'll get this done next week.

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And in Poodle news, I was so proud of Molly and Priscilla this morning.  Usually I have to carry the blind sisters from the truck, across the parking lot, and into PetsMart to the grooming section.  They just haven't felt comfortable walking in such unfamiliar territory, with the pavement, vehicles, all that city noise around them.  Not today.  Both girls walked on a leash the entire way, right into the store, down the aisle and into the groomers.  And they walked back to the truck this afternoon when I went to pick them up.  One of the groomers walked Priscilla out with me to the truck while I took Molly, and she told me that these two girls are "the best Standard Poodles we've ever had" … and by that, she meant in terms of being easy to work with for clipping, bathing, and overall handling.

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I also went to the "groomers" today, and it finally occurred to me that the Poodle sisters and I are pretty much on the same schedule.  When it's time to get them groomed, it's time for me to get a haircut … and vice versa.  It's just that I don't need three hours to get all gussied up.