If you know us at all, you know we have an adorable floof that we dote on.
(cute artsy picture of floof)
(actual photo of floof)
Now that I’ve shown you his cute, I want to talk about the Vaccine Trial he’s in.
Three Universities are testing a Cancer Vaccine for dogs, and we signed up. It’s a double blind, so we don’t know if he’s getting it or not. (But his nausea drooling and terrible farts and soft stool for three days after each injection hint that he might be getting it.)
They do a full work up on your dog to make sure they don’t have cancer already or other existing illnesses, including a chest x-ray and an ultrasound of the belly.
They have to shave their belly for this.
Let me tell you about how mad Tundra was at us for this. With the pandemic we couldn’t go in, so we basically passed him off to the Vet and came back to pick him up.
When we got back, he had an adorable bald patch on his stomach.
He was SO MAD. He wouldn’t even look at us, and I made the mistake of laughing, and he huffed into the far back corner of the car and drooled in misery.
He’s had two injections now, and his fur is growing back in. We’ve had nothing worse than nausea drooling on the way home and farts with soft stool.
They will cover some cancer treatment at their hospital if your dog gets cancer during this trial. When he passes, regardless of age or time since trial, we agree to send him in for an autopsy. I was upset about this part, but my husband pointed out that he wouldn’t be there anymore and it would help other dogs.
It’s still hard to swallow, but I agreed. If he is getting the vaccine, the chance to extend his life without cancer was too tempting to refuse. If we were to decide not to and he got cancer, I’d never be able to forgive myself.
You can find the trial here along with the requirements to enter it. I snagged a screen capture here:
Plus they have a list of dog breeds.
UW Madison only has about 200 dogs enrolled, and they need 500, so if you’re local to any of these Universities look it over.
I’m not saying you have to enroll if you have a fluffer.
But at least consider it.
