Old Paws and New Paws

Let's begin with some background info. There are three sets of "old paws" in our house (not counting us):

Frankie is on the left, Benny on the right

• Benny is a golden retriever, 11 going on 12 years old. Benny loves Frankie, food and me but not in that order.
• Frankie is also a golden retriever, 9 going on 10. They are inseparable but not related. Frankie loves swimming, eating and Benny ... in that order.
• ZZ is a kitty, adopted from our local humane society a year and a half ago. He's about 2 years old and is very proud of his beautiful blue eyes and magnificent fluffy tail.

ZZ

Last December (2010), Benny was diagnosed with oral melanoma. The tumor was small and successfully removed by the OSU Veterinary Teaching hospital. When we went for the post-surgery re-check, one of Benny's lymph nodes was enlarged and found to be metastasis from the melanoma. We removed that and thought we were home free. Benny now has a small tumor in his lung that awaits further diagnostics.

Meanwhile, we discovered a lump on Frankie's face about 6 weeks ago. That turns out to be a fibro-sarcoma tumor that was successfully removed by our local vet. To be thorough, the oncology team at OSU did a second surgery to remove additional margin. Frankie has recovered and is doing fine. He especially appreciated getting to eat soft food for 3 weeks.

These events got us to thinking ... our boys are getting older ... maybe we should get a puppy for many, many happy days. More on "new paws" later ...