On Saturday between Christmas and New year we found a lump on Molly's front armpit, took her to the vet on Monday and he said took a slide sample as wasn't very happy at the speed it had come up, we rang on Wednesday and he confirmed that it was cancerous, Friday she went in to have it removed,  they opened her leg and her chest and the vet has said that he has removed all he could, there is a little bit that was too deep as to get to that he could have damaged her knee and muscles, but he is cautiously optimistic that it will be okay, she has her front paw pulled up in front of her and bandaged so she cannot put her foot down flat and is bandaged across her chest and back too, she also has a drain in but we have to take her back this Monday to have that removed, obviously she is on lots of painkillers and antibiotics but she is hobbling around a bit although any exertion absolutely wears her out, however she must feel a little better as she is wagging her tail , will keep you all updated,

Update - 26/807Tara is a lot better, she has been on insulin now for 4 weeks, she is not stabilised yet, maybe we are hoping for too much too soon, but her appetite has returned, she is not drinking as much and the wicked, mischievous glint is back in her eyes, she is running around and playing with the others, she is back at the vet on Tuesday for another blood test for her levels, so we must wait and see how she gets on, I have the injections off to a fine art now, I cut lumps of carrot for them all, sweep Tara up onto the table we use, inject her and they all have carrot as a treat, she is such a good girl, she sits still for me, which is half the battle, thanks all for your concern and kind thoughts, will keep you updated.__________________________________________________________Feel down at the moment as Tara has got diabetes, I know she is not the first dog to have it and she wont be the last but she is my baby and i feel for her,We took her to the vets as she had been losing weight and drinking a lot and after water and blood tests it was confirmed, she has to be stabilised now and the vet doesn't know how long that will take as each dog is different, the good news however is that although her liver is affected all her other organs are fine, I am nervous about doing the injections myself but will do it because it is for my girl. She is eating very little at the moment too but Chris, the vet, has said once the ketones are out of her system she will want to eat more, Will keep all our friends updated

My dogs are all rescued, Merlin was abandoned on a mountain not too far from where we live, he was rescued after 10 days by a local sanctuary, his tummy and chest were red raw and bleeding where he had crawled about too scared to stand,  when we first brought him home he was frightened of everything, after a few days he started to find his way around and began to follow the others in and out of the garden, now 5 years later he will let us do practically anything as he knows he is safe and very well loved.Ben was found as a stray and taken to the local pound, the staff there eventually traced his owners but they refused to pay to get him released and told the staff to put him to sleep, they would not even tell the staff his name, he was only 12 months old, now he is 4 and a real cheeky little westie, Tigger was running around as a stray on a housing estate, a man took her in and fed her for a week whilst he made enquiries in the area to see if anyone had lost a puppy, noone claimed her and as he had other animals he couldn't keep her, she was 12 weeks old when we had her from the same sanctuary as Merlin.Rosie also came from the local pound, her owners had gone away on holiday and never ever came back for her, she was 8 months old, she will be 10 in August and bounces around like a 12 month old .Tara was born at the local pound as her mum was a stray, she was really ill when we had her and we thought we were going to lose her, if it hadn't been for our brilliant vet we probably would have, now she is 8 and a real gentle little girl.We had Molly from a local family whose dog had had pups, she was very tiny and shy, she is still shy but far from tiny now, she too is 8,  We also have two parrots, Leah is a Timneh African Grey , who quite happily chats and whistles all day long, Bebe is a Hans Macaw, she too is sweet, but she does have a habit of screeching very loudly on times