Baby Cassy

Hi, my name is Cassy and I’m just 14 weeks old. I’m just a furry little puppy now, but when I grow up, I’m gonna be a big, beautiful, red and white, wooly-coated Malamute just like my new packmates, Ruckus and Nylah.

I was born in Vermont, but a couple weeks ago my new mommy and daddy came to get me. I didn’t know them at first, but Mommy said she had fallen in love with me right after I was born, and that they could hardly wait to bring me to my new home in Massachusetts. It was kinda scary meeting new people and going to a strange place, but they made me feel so loved and wanted that I didn’t stay scared long. On the ride to my new home, Mommy and Daddy told me how they’ve always loved Malamutes, especially ones that are red-headed like my Mommy is, and that they’ve waited many years to finally have a place with enough room for Malamutes to run and play. I was so happy to hear all this that I couldn’t help but gaze in absolute wide-eyed wonder at my new family.

It’s a good thing I did too, but kinda sad at the same time. Because, in the car that day, my new mommy thought she saw something odd in my right eye. It was only visible when my eye was wide open, so nobody had ever noticed it before. Whatever it was, though, worried Mommy. She and Daddy got on something called the internet that very night to try to find out what it might be, and then got even more worried. I was so sorry I was causing them worry; they had been so happy. Anyway, I had barely met my new packmates and rested up from our trip, when they took me to a special doctor who knows all about Malamute eyes. Even though that doctor was nice to me, he made Mommy and Daddy very sad when he told them the thing in my eye is something called cancer, some kind of melanoma. Then, he made it even worse when he told them it was very rare to see in puppies, that it was the largest mass he had ever seen in a puppy as young as me, and that it was already affecting my vision. I don’t really understand all this, because it doesn’t feel like anything is in my eye, but it must be, because everyone seems to be able to see it. The smart doctor said another smart doctor at someplace called Tufts Veterinary School in Grafton would have to decide the best way to get it out. He said it might just involve something called laser surgery, or it could mean they might have to remove my eye. Oh goodness, Mommy didn’t like that idea at all! And, I don’t think I do either. The doctor told them one really good thing though – that if this cancer was what he thinks it is, there is a 98% chance it won’t spread anywhere else. So, at least that was good.

Going back home again, Mommy and Daddy were really sad. Even though my breeder would take me back and give them another puppy, they didn’t want to do that. They already loved me too much to lose me, and they decided right then they wanted to do everything possible to save my eye. Oh, how I love my new mommy and daddy!!! So, they have a plan now. They will take me to this other smart doctor, as soon as next week hopefully, to do something called an ultrasound which will tell them exactly where this thing is in my eye – whether its on the surface of my eye, or if its actually behind my eye. That should tell them whether or not my eye can be saved.