Hi! This is Cheddar, a hind leg amputee and tripawd as of June 2020! We want to record and share Cheddar’s journey so that our experience may help some other dog owner going through tough times as we have 🙂 we’ll be updating this with more info about what has come before and continuing to update as new things come to light!
A brief backstory: Cheddar was rescued on the outskirts of Bakersfield in early 2020, apparently abandoned by his previous owner. He found his way up to San Francisco with help from the amazing PilotsNPaws program and was adopted by his current family (us!) in April 2020.
We noticed right away that Cheddar had a bad limp and apparently atrophied muscle in his right rear leg. The ankle joint also appeared to be larger on that leg compared to his left hind leg. We were told it was from an old injury, old bone that had fused together. But the limp concerned us, and we scheduled several vet visits within days of adopting him.
It eventually became clear with subsequent xrays and tests that the situation in his right rear ankle was osteosarcoma (bone cancer). Heartbroken but wanting to give this amazing dog another chance given his unlucky past, we decided to opt for amputation followed by a chemotherapy treatment. Cheddar became a tripawd on 6/11/2020!
Other fun facts about Cheddar: he is deaf, he’ll eat almost anything (he even likes veggies! The only thing we’ve found he dislikes is lettuce…), and he is a huge lovable derp with a tenacity for living 🙂 we hope someone here finds learning about his story useful!
For more day to day updates about Cheddar’s life, feel free to follow him on Instagram at @cheddar.thegoudaboy
Beautiful! Welcome and thank you for sharing Cheddar’s story. Your future blog posts and pages will publish immediately without requiring moderation.
You will find much more help and feedback in the discussion forums or by searching the member blogs. Start here for help finding the many Tripawds Resources an assistance programs.
Hello and welcome. First- you are wonderful for adopting and even more wonderful for staying with him after diagnosis!
Are you in the SF Bay Area? We have a group of Tripawds that get together a couple times a year in Mill Valley…that is in normal times.
Maybe he has some Pug in him- my Pug boy will eat most anything but lettuce : ). My current Tripawd Elly is a little Pug mix who lost a back leg to a car accident. My first Tripawd was a Pug who lost a back leg to mast cell cancer.
How is chemo going?
Hopefully if you are in the Bay Area we will get a chance to meet someday…
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
Hi Karen! We are in the SF Bay Area! We live in SF proper, but would love to come out to a local Tripawds meetup so Cheddar can meet some new friends whenever one is happening again after these crazy times. I’m sure he would love to meet Elly! They could eat buffets together 😛
Chemo is going great so far — Cheddar just finished his 3rd out of 5 and his chest x-rays came back clear. We have our fingers crossed that the cancer is in remission but I know everything is touch and go with OSA.
Awww what a love story! You guys are wonderful humans for rescuing this sweet boy and not letting the cancer diagnosis get you down. Cheddar lucked out with you! He’s such a gorgeous pup, hard to believe anyone could let him out of their sight.
Thanks for coming her to share his story. Nopawdy ever expects a cancer diagnosis, let alone one that happens so soon after adoption. So thank you for inviting us along for the journey, and showing the world once again that Tripawds families are pawesome!
We look forward to pupdates.
Hey Cheddar, welcome to the community. Hope you and your family are well and staying safe ❤️
Aw thank you Gaurav! Hope you are doing well and staying safe too!!