[joyfull]

my dogs are great listeners, they help get me through tough times as well. Nobody on here feels you are OTT with your dogs care, whilst so-ever the vets say there is hope like you I would keep ploughing on.
Honey hopefully will be fine she just needs a little bit of time and tlc to fight off the infection that she probably has in the scar area.

[tosca100]

Not OTT at all, I understand exactly where you are coming from.

[madcat]

Not at all - my household is run by cats, and I would do just as you are.  Including sleeping on the floor! 

[Livinhope]

I'm so glad that Honey is okay even though there are healing problems, but they will clear up.   With regard to those colleagues of yours who would have had her put down - I hope they aren't actually friends of yours because I don't rate their loyalty very highly.

[Bizzi Lizzi]

I'm so glad that Honey is okay even though there are healing problems, but they will clear up.   With regard to those colleagues of yours who would have had her put down - I hope they aren't actually friends of yours because I don't rate their loyalty very highly.

You work with people and then there are your friends!

[Mosslane]

In my opinion you can never be OTT about pets.
Jake was a rescue and hopefuly we have given him a good life after his bad first years.

No sleep for several nights watching over Ellie after her op and then nursing Jake. It is worse than having kids but there is no way I wouldn't do it.

Really hope Honey continues to get better.

[Bizzi Lizzi]

Have been cleaning with salted aired water and putting the steroid cream around and there is certainly a big improvement.  The wound is weeping just a little still but she's never still.

I put her a rather fetching neckerchief on this morning but she spent more time trying to get it off then scratching the wound so that was abandoned.  She obviously thought the fashion police were on their way!

[madcat]

Served as diversionary tactic, while she worries at the neckerchief she wasn't worrying the wound - so it was a Good Thing!   

[NormandyMary]

This thread has made me both laugh and cry, and has also brough back memories of when I took my cat Phoebe to the vets with a sore spot on her neck that wouldnt heal. I thought that at worst it was an abcess, and was just expecting the vet to give her a jab, some pills and send us home.
However, she dropped the bombshell that she though it was cancer, and that she wanted to operate as soon as possible. She kept Phoebe in that night..coming home without her was awful, and having to tell hubby and the other two moggies was terrible. She had her operation the following morning, and I opted to have the growth sent to the lab to see if it was malignant or not. Phoebe came through the op well, and they also checked all her other internal organs for any signs of tumours. The pathology came back that it had been malignant, but the vet was hopeful that she had got it all. Now, 2 years on, I watch Phoebe like a hawk for any changes.
Luckily the vets bill, including operation, 4 subsequent visits for jabs, stitches, cleaning etc, pathology, blood tests,came to 147€ (probably about £120)which I didnt think was too bad. Money didnt come into it though, the love that cat has given us over the last 13 years is immeasurable.

[Bizzi Lizzi]

At last some good news!

Spent endless days and nights bathing the wound and applying cream and my efforts have paid off.  The vet was delighted with her progress and praised by determination.  The wound is healing slowly but nicely and the rash is clearing.  Hip hip hoorrahhh.

Better news came from the path lab - yes, it was thyroid cancer but it was encapsulated and hadn't begun to spread into the surrounding area!!!!  Naturally there is still a minute chance that Honey has a secondary cancer elsewhere but they said that it was only a 20-25% chance, which the vet thought were great odds.  I think that this is cause for celebration so when I get to work later today I won't be as rude to customers as I usually am.  I might even crack open a smile if they are lucky or charge them for their carrier bags.

The vet suggested a CT scan in three to four months at a cost of about £700 but I now think that whatever will be, will be so no scan for Honey.  The visits have really started to distress her, so much so that she leave a pooh trail from the car right into reception and back again.  So no, no more. 

As for the insurance, well, what can I say.  Still fighting it out.  Now they are saying that my policy number doesn't even exist ... but I don't care, I've given my dog a good chance of survival and my little friend lives to fight another day (or kill another rabbit as she did earlier this year, but that's another story ....)

Stitches out end of next week.  Will try and get daughter to post some photos this weekend.

Thanks everyone for the best wishes and lovely stories of encouragement.  Thanks also to my teenage daughter who could have been typical of today's young uns and let mother sort it all out but she's slept on the floor with Honey, let her out in the dead of night and generally been fantastic.  She looks like s**t this morning but is just as happy as me.  Imagine that, a smiling yuffff! 

[Livinhope]

Absolutely delighted for you all.  To get down to the nitty gritty, have you got proof that you have been paying your premiums?   If so try the body that regulates the insurance companies, small claims court, CAB, anyone who will take it on for you, these companies will try to wriggle out of paying if they can but if you pursue it, with proof, you will usually get somewhere.

[Mosslane]

Thats great news - so pleased and how nice to read the pleasure in your words.

[arugula]

So pleased to hear that you have some better news!

[joyfull]

so please Honey is getting over her problem.

As for the insurance you should have proof even if it is just copies of your bank statements and the direct debit.

[tosca100]

I'm really pleased for you, hope you sleep well tonight!