Canelo's Recovery Journey

This is Canelo, he's a six (almost 7) year old 85 lb brindle pitbull.  We've had him since he was just 1 month old. His hobbies include daytime naps under all the blankies, butt scratches and sticking his big head out every car ride.  He’s just like your average dog, except with a ton more personality. He pretty much has the temper tantrums of a teenager and the patience of a little old grumpy man. Sure he may seem like an intimidating bully, but deep down he’s the biggest baby pittie there is.  He recently underwent through a complicated surgery to remove a growth, but because of major set backs we are asking for your help.



Back story

About a year ago we noticed a bump starting to grow underneath his little toe on his front right paw. You could barely even tell it was there, but nonetheless we had it checked out. Our worries were put to rest once we found out it was only a fatty tumor. Months pass by and we realized it was growing, we thought nothing of it though since we did get it checked out. After about 6 months from our original biopsy another tumor started growing on top of the old one. This was the point where we knew it needed to be removed, it was growing at such an alarming rate..and now there were two. We tried saving up the money for surgery as soon as we possibly could.



Surgery day

Its Thursday March 14, surgery day arrives and we take him to the vet just like any other day he’d have an appointment. We went in for a growth removal, the only thing Dr. Gruszka (our trusted vet thats been seeing Canelo for years) was worried about was where it was located. Since the growth was on the paw and had grown a significant amount, the issue would then be closing the skin from the incisions. Dr. G assured us Canelo was in good hands, if any problems arised he would call us with an update, we just needed to be back for him by 6pm that day. The day passes by and we think nothing of it, we try to relax and not worry too much. Since it was already 5:30, surely everything must’ve gone ok since we heard nothing from the clinic all day. As we are headed to the vet, we recieved a devastating call from the vet.

“We just finished up with surgery, but this is by far the worst case I’ve seen. It was a 6 hour long procedure and unfortunately we weren’t able to remove the growth 100%. I almost called to tell you we were going to amputate his paw.”



My gut instantly droped to my stomach and I could feel the weight of the world just collapse onto us. We rushed to the clinic to see how he was and to further discuss how surgery went with the doctor. Minutes felt like hours, as we waited to be called. Finally the vet sees us and rushes us to the back room. As Canelo is coming to, he whimpers and cries out to us, the only good sign I had from him was his wagging tail thundering in the kennel.

The tumor had grown to such an extent that it had intertwined deep into his paw, invading the little tissue he had there. In order to successfully removed the growth, the doctor explained how he removed major blood vessels, tendons & ligaments. Canelos body would then have to grow new blood vessels in order to provide the blood flow his wound need to heal. If all went well, he’d only be in recovery for 4 weeks.

Start to Recovery

Dr. Gruszka highly suggested leaving him for the night, but since they were closing and he would be left alone, we didn’t want him to wake up frightened throughout the night. Depending on how his wound healed day by day, was the determining factor on how his recovery would go. The constant feeling of not knowing, was what gave us crippling anxiety. We didn’t know how he would recover, how he’d feel the next few days after surgery & we certainly didn't know how serious of a procedure it was.

We brought him home, made him the comfiest corner so he could rest and get well. We gave him the medicine he was prescribed, he was on multiple antibiotics, pain meds and tranquilizers. We did everything the vet told us to do; we even worked out a schedule between the both of us to be home 24/7 keeping watch on him.  



That first weekend was rough, we watched him go from a bundle of energy to a miserable sad pup. You could just see the pain he was going through in his eyes. His health started to decline. He wasn't eating, wasn't going potty and he kept vomiting the little he did manage to take. Each time we took him to get him bandages changed, his paw wasn’t making any progress either. It swelled up twice in size and was highly sensitive. By this point in time, Dr. G made it clear that he needed bandage changings twice a day. There was no way we were able to travel to and from the clinic every day, twice a day with a heavily medicated 85 lb dog. We were barely managing being able to take him once a day, let alone do that two times a day. On top of that the constant travel wasnt helping his paw rest. 



Complications with recovery 

It was essential that he stayed at the vet to recover properly. Despite all our efforts, he wasn't improving and if we wanted him to get any better he needed to stay. Once his condition improved, only then could we bring him home. Home isn't home without him. The silence of the day haunted us, the rooms felt cold without his warm heart and our days have been gloomy without his bright smile. It’s been one of the scariest weeks of my life, uncertain of what would happen, we could only hope and pray that things would get better each day.  



Canelo has terrible separation anxiety. He will not eat if we are not around and if he doesn't eat he could run the risk of throwing up and then reversing the progress we had made. We’ve done everything to be there to help every step of the way. We go in to help him eat & take his meds, since he is a stubborn boy that won’t eat without his parents around. We help hold and calm him down for all of his bandage changes, (it takes about 4 to 5 people just to hold down this strong boy). Normally, they don’t allow for pet owners to help, but since it relaxes him, we go every. single. time. It makes the whole process a lot less stressful for both Canelo and the technicians involved.



Although he has made a significant amount of progress since we had him stay at the vet and he is finally back home, the vet says that there is still a lot more work to be done. There will be more surgeries to go back and help cover the wound with new growing skin cells. Once his skin starts healing and regrowing, Dr. G will be able to go in and stretch his skin to close the large gap.


We decided to get pet insurance over a year and half ago for this exact reason. No, we didn’t know, THIS would happen, but we got it so that we'd have the help if some medical emergencies happened to come up. We never imagined it would come to this point. We thought he’d go in, get the procedure done and he’d be recovered in 2-3 weeks with only getting his bandages changed every other day. We are ecstatic that he is alive and doing well each passing day. Our worries have settled for his well being, but one thing that does concern us is the financial part of it all. We did what we thought would help, but yet it is still not enough and we worry that we will soon run out of funds for him. We don’t want his life or recovery to be at risk because of our financial situation. This is why we are asking for your help. Its never easy to ask for help and we never thought we’d be put in this position, but we were barely able to afford the first surgery. Any help we recieve would be greatly appreciated, as it will go towards his daily check ups and future surgeries needed.



Canelo isn’t just like any other ordinary dog. He loves attention, no matter what you’re doing he has to be there, sitting at your feet. Whether you’re getting ready to start the day, cooking a meal or simply trying to go to the bathroom. He’ll barge into every door with his massive head. Canelo has been my shoulder to cry on on lonely nights, and my protector since day one. He always seems to know when to give me a little nudge on bad days. He’s been my best friend for 6 years. and I can't imagine not having him around, not yet. Now that he’s in trouble and on this long road to recovery it’s our turn to be by his side, aiding him each step of the way. Most people probably wouldn’t consider a dog a part of the family, but he’s an essential part to ours.