Pet Cancer Survivor – Molly’s Story

As part of Pet Cancer Awareness Month, Veterinary Pet Insurance is highlighting some of our policyholders’ pets that were diagnosed with, treated for, and survived pet cancer. Every year in the United States, millions of pets are diagnosed with cancer, yet many pet owners are unaware of the prevalence and cost of the disease. Our next story comes from VPI policyholder, Nicole A. of New Orleans, La., whose boxer was diagnosed with a mast cell tumor earlier this year.

Molly, our Boxer who will turn 14 years old next month, is affectionately called our first child. My husband and I brought her home in February of 2000 when she was eight weeks old; she was our Valentine’s present to each other the first year we were married. She was cute as a button, but she always kept us on our toes! Molly was quite a sassy puppy (and flunked out of obedience school twice!), but she was just as sweet. We lived in San Diego at the time, and Molly enjoyed “growing up” on the beach. She loved running in the sand and bouncing in the waves. Her favorite part about going to the beach was having my husband and I chase her when it was time to go home! In true Boxer fashion, she would stop with her two front paws splayed in the sand, and her bottom sticking up like she was ready to pounce. She would let us get just close enough to where we thought we could catch her, and then she’d run off again!

In May of 2001, we moved to New Orleans, and Molly continued enjoying her life as an only child. We travelled quite a bit, and Molly would come with us whenever and wherever we could take her. She looked forward to celebrating her birthday and Christmas, as she would get presents to un-wrap too! I learned my lesson one Christmas season, though, when I came home to find many presents under the tree waiting to be opened had been torn apart by Molly!

In January of 2004, I became pregnant with our first child. I was a little bit nervous about how Molly was going to react to the baby. Although she had just turned 4 years old, Molly was still a big ball of energy, and a spoiled one at that! In July of 2004, our daughter was born 13 weeks early. She spent 2 months in the NICU, and when the day came to finally take her home, I couldn’t believe how calm and protective Molly was. She wouldn’t let the baby out of her sight, she followed her everywhere. If our daughter was in the swing, Molly was laying under the swing. If the baby was in the crib, Molly was next to the crib. Her transformation from a hyper dog into a calm, protective dog was amazing. Over the next year, Molly and my daughter became best friends. My daughter would sit on her, hug her, and pull her stubby tail, and Molly would shower her with love and kisses. In 2006, my son was born, and another inseparable friendship was formed with Molly.

My kids have never known life without Molly. From waiting at the front door for them to return home from school, to checking on them in their rooms first thing in the morning, Molly has always been there for my children. She even knows if someone in the family is having a bad day, and she will give extra love and kisses to try to cheer them up. Molly is such an important part of our family, so you can imagine the heartache we felt when she was diagnosed with a mast cell tumor at the beginning of this year. We have had VPI Pet Insurance for Molly ever since she was a puppy, and we opted for the cancer rider way back then because we knew that Boxers are prone to cancer. We were so relieved to find out that VPI covered a large portion of her vet bills. Molly is able to see a vet oncologist every 4-6 weeks, and she is doing really well with her chemotherapy treatment. Thanks to VPI, we are able to continue Molly’s treatment, and her tumor has gotten smaller! She is doing so well for such an old lady. She is happy, and we still see a little bit of her sassiness shine through, especially when she is begging for treats! We know that we won’t have Molly in our lives for too much longer, but we are so grateful for each day that we do have with her, thanks to VPI.

Nicole A. VPI Policyholder Since 2001