[pyrnet] My Best Friend

["Nancy K" <nakhere@hotmail.com>]

At 51 years of age, I've finally gotten a pc for my home use. I saw this 
website and hope that maybe you can help me. My best friend...my first any 
only Pyr died the end of January of this year. He was 11 yrs old. I am 
requesting any information you may have to help me determine whether his 
health problems were unique or if any of you have experienced the same 
thing. I contacted the GPCA representatives in charge of health problems in 
February and contacted Dr Brown (from whom I got Thor as an 8 wk old puppy). 
Dr Brown said he didn't see anything odd with his health record. I submitted 
Thor's health history to the GPCA database to help others. The GPCA health 
folks said they would ask Pyr owners to see if they had experienced any of 
the problems I had, but, after waiting six months, it doesn't look like they 
will publish anything in the national magazine.

First, the following is what I sent to them:


"Tumor Problems in Pyrs?

I am seeking any information from club members concerning a possible health 
issue I had encountered throughout almost the entire life of my recently 
deceased (and terribly missed) Pyr. He has been the only Pyr I have ever 
been fortunate to have owned. I will explain:

My dog was born in 01/90.  Three+ years later, I took him to the University 
Vet School in Madison, WI because the local vets didn’t know what to do with 
him. He had grown a 5 lb benign lipoma on his left side. They removed it at 
that time, stopping at the rib cage. Less than six months later it had 
regrown with a vengeance. I requested the vet remove the entire thing down 
thru the “root”. They had to take two partial ribs out and found it was 
feeding directly off his stomach. Luckily, they got it all; weighing in at 
over 13# with 62 stitches needed to close.

Thru the next few years, he only grew a few small external tumors that 
looked like large wood ticks. They grew primarily on his head and cheek. By 
age 8+ he had developed a lump on his leg from lying on concrete at a kennel 
he had to stay at for a while while I moved.

That was about the time he started growing perianal gland adenomas around 
his rectum and the base of his tail. I had the first few taken off at one 
time with a local vet that didn’t know what caused them. They grew back 
almost immediately. I then took him to the Vet Teaching Hospital in 
Minneapolis for further testing. They removed one and tested it for cancer. 
It was benign. They recommended he be neutered and the problem would cease. 
I had him neutered within the next month. He was now 8 yrs and 10 months 
old. Less than 3 months later, he grew a huge tumor at the base of his tail, 
which opened up and bled profusely. He had surgery immediately to remove it. 
There wasn’t enough skin left to close the wound, which required quite a bit 
of attention on my part to keep the area clean. At 10 years and 10 months, 
he needed to have another six or so directly on his rectum removed. They 
performed this operation using only local anesthesia as he was becoming 
quite frail and we were scared to complete sedate him. Finally, at 11 years 
2 weeks, he needed to have another surgery performed as another very large 
one was growing at the base of his tail (same one?) along with others around 
his rectum. The vet needed to put him under to perform the surgery this 
time; and, unfortunately, he died two days after the surgery, at home, as he 
could no longer get up. He valiantly tried to rally the strength to rise; 
but his hindquarters had been getting quite weak from age and after the 
surgery he couldn’t get his front legs under him. He splayed out at the 
elbows.

I need to have some closure on all these tumors that spanned the majority of 
his lifetime. Are tumors of this type prevalent in this breed? Do they 
regrow from some kind of root? Is it a hereditary problem? Do some breeders 
have more problems with this than others? Before I would consider getting 
another Pyr, I need much more information concerning this tumors (both 
lipomas and perianal adenomas). I loved him dearly and miss him terribly; 
but, don’t think I want to go thru this much trauma again. Thank you in 
advance for all information you can provide. I would appreciate it if you 
could poll the general members for any similar health problems. Thank you 
again."

I would appreciate any information anyone can give me on this. Some tumors 
are understandable; but, to be plagued with them for 11 years, it just seems 
unreasonable.

Since I now feel that I am addressing the people that raise and love Pyrs, 
if I decide to get another Pyr pup, can you tell me if some breeders breed 
for a tighter mouth? Thor had mostly French ancestors and he drooled really 
badly...I loved him but it was a real mess on the walls, floors, and 
friends. He seemed to always be sweating. I kept him in air conditioning in 
the summer (68 degrees) and my house is kept at 67 degrees in the winter. Is 
this much sweating without any outside stimuli normal?

I know by reading all the emails and articles and magazines for 11 years 
that Pyrs bark... a lot. Until two years ago, I lived in the country and it 
didn't matter. Now I only have 1.7 acres and it is in a small town. If I get 
another Pyr, is there a way I can get control of the barking at all? Barker 
collar, have him debarked (which I would hate!), or training of some kind? 
Thor (and Buster, my grossly overweight and kind of dumb springer) were kept 
in the house during the day while I work; but, Thor barked at anything and 
everything, real or imagined as soon as I let him out. He was better when I 
stayed outside with him. In town, that could create a problem. Is there 
anything I can do? Are they supposed to prowl around the house overnight? 
He'd bark one time about every two hours overnight for no apparent 
reason...except to him? Made it a challenge to get a lot of quite sleep 
time.

I love Pyrs and can't picture getting any other breed. Thor was the sweetest 
and greatest dog I've ever had. He wore his soul on his sleeve. He would do 
anything for me. I still cry each time I think of him. I haven't been able 
to remove the urn with his ashes in it from the bag he came home from the 
vets.

Any information will be greatly appreciated. I value anything you can tell 
me. Thank you in advance.

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