Rough Week

Well, this has certainly been a rough week for us here in our Brooklyn Headquarters. As most of you probably have seen already, we have been fostering a kitten that we found (literally) on its birthday. He was one day old when he was found in the street and we’ve been nursing him back to health by bottle feeding and lots and lots of love.

Our big puppy (not so much a puppy, as he’s about nine years old) took the little kitten under his “paw” if you will and has become a big mama to him in many ways. Our dog, Red is just about the greatest dog you could ask for. He’s sweet as can be, so obedient, gently, loyal. Everything you could want and ask for in a canine companion.

Then, last Tuesday–the day that Soul Survivor hit the shelves–our world was shattered. We were told that Red has canine lymphoma. A very aggressive cancer of the immune system. The good news is–that when treated quickly and correctly, a dog has a 70-90% chance of reaching remission. The bad news is–that these treatments are quite costly.

With no treatment, Red has been given anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months at the most. With the treatments, anywhere from 1-3 years is expected. We’ve been very lucky in that we have been granted a discount of 25% for these treatments from the wonderful fund Frankie’s Friends. If you haven’t heard of this group, please go check them out. They are wonderful.

But of course, 75% of a lot of money is still a lot of money. We haven’t given up on big mister yet, though. We are still currently exploring other avenues to help fund Red’s chemo. One of the first ideas I had was incorporating our sweet new kitten and our other pup, Bebop (a chihuahua) into little products to sell. I’ve started creating blank greeting cards using my photography and design skills which we are selling here! Go check them out and/or if you want, I can take your order through the email/contact page listed here on this website (Katana.Collins@gmail.com).

For those who have gone through this or are currently going through lymphoma on your beloved furry family member, feel free to email or message me any time. I’ll be documenting and writing about Red’s journey here. Our number one goal is to keep his quality of life good. While chemo of course has its ups and downs, as long as he’s still his normal happy self 80% of the time, we’ll continue the course.

My next post about Red will outline the first symptoms we noticed and what the process of diagnosis was. And I’m sorry for anyone else who has to go through this…but hopefully our experiences will help you understand better what is happening with your pet.

More later, my friends! It’s a beautiful day out and I plan on enjoying it with Red.