We rescued Coleman from a local shelter on September 6, 2011. The transporter called in tears that such a wonderful, sweet and loving dog could be in such bad shape. Here is what the vet reported after his initial exam: severe dental disease, cataracts and glaucoma in one eye with the pressure so high that he was blind in that eye and in such severe pain that his eye needed to be removed immediately. He had had hematoma surgery on his ear within the last several weeks that was never cared for post-surgically so it was grossly infected and needed repaired again. He had heartwords, was hypothyroid and had significant arthritis and weakness on his back right leg. Most concerning was the enormously large tumor that basically encased his entire left leg. It was the circumference of a basketball and extended up onto his rump area. To picture it imagine that someone took a basketball, cut an opening in it and put his leg through it. The good news was that it was a LIPOMA, the granddaddy of all lipomas.
With all of this, Coleman?s tail never stopped wagging and everyone was in love with him as he tried to get into everyone’s lap. Our wonderful vets worked very, very hard on this guy. His eye was removed, his ear was repaired and miraculously that massive leg lipoma was successfully removed. Meanwhile Coleman had captured the heart of everyone as the clinic. He was a bit of a finicky eater and had conned one of the vets into frequent lunches of cheese pizza. Finally after 35 days at the vet, it was time for Coleman to go to foster. The very day he was due to go to his foster home, during his final exam, the vet noticed the dreaded enlarged lymph nodes in his neck. An needle biopsy was done and sent to UGA. Our worst fears were confirmed, Coleman had lymphoma. If you have had a dog with lymphoma you know the lymph nodes literally pop up overnight. Sadly by the time a dog has detectable, enlarged lymph nodes, the disease has significantly progressed and the dog only has a few weeks left. His foster took him home and spoiled him rotten. He was his usual loving, smiling, happy self to the very end. You may wonder why this is such a loooong story. All we can say is if you had met this guy you would understand. He was a very, very special guy and a few lines just couldn?t adequately tell his unique story. With everything he went through, Coleman deserved a fitting tribute. Right now we know he is chasing butterflies and running like the wind with crystal clear vision of all his AGA friends who had gone before him. Just know dear friend Coleman, we tried everything to keep you with us.