Scarlatti

In November of 2024, Scarlatti’s chiropractor noticed a thickening of the lower gum in Scarlatti’s mouth, Scarlatti had been kissing her and I apologized because Scarlatti’s breath was bad that week.
She told me to get it checked out
( I couldn’t see it, but I trust her!).
The specialist saw Scarlatti in December of 2024, he said he would biopsy the area, but he was highly doubtful that it was anything to be concerned about.
It came back as Oral Melanoma. My heart sank. This is my girl, my heart, my agility champion and we still had big plans. She was 11years old.
We did surgery a week later and part of Scarlatti’s jaw was removed as well as the teeth in that area. They did not have to go completely through the jaw.
The specialist was confident they got clean margins but recommended we see an oncologist to see what our options were.
The oncologist recommended the Oncept vaccine. It would take 7 injections over the next year and a half. They are extremely expensive, but we started anyway. I didn’t care about the $$.
We also needed chest x-rays every 3 months to make sure the cancer didn’t spread.
We were supposed to go to New York in February 2025 for Westminster Agility. The specialist said no way- so we made a deal. We’d do a CT scan at the end of January , and if he said no, that she wasn’t healed enough, we wouldn’t go.
Scarlatti couldn’t eat anything but soft food and she wasn’t allowed to carry anything in her mouth, no chewing either!
I started giving her lick mats with yogurt and cat food on it two times a day. I leash walked her and used soft food for treats.
He did the CT scan and looked at the results, he came blasting through the door and said he’d never seen a dog heal so well in such a short time frame. He gave the ok to go and compete at Westminster.
We drove to New York from Colorado( that’s a whole different story). She ran her heart out and placed second in both runs in her height group. We had a blast exploring the area and enjoyed all the great food( including pizza and a shared hot dog).
The next month we went to AKC National Agility Competition in Tulsa and she placed 4th in finals in her height group.
This girl was not done living. And she was still living big.
Since then she’s still competing in agility and recently placed 5th at NAC at the age of 12.
The agility community across the US came together for us. Friends held a “fund run” for her to help pay expenses, I would go to the vet for her treatment and people had called and put money on our account to help with the cost.
She’s such a special girl, and she has so many people who care about her.
She has an appointment in August to receive her last Oncept vaccine, and then a recheck 6 months later.
The cancer had not spread and she’ll be considered “cured” at the two year mark.
Scarlatti handled all of it without ever losing her love for people, for agility and even for all the wonderful vet personnel who have had to do all the things she hates. She forgives them immediately.
Scarlatti is a once in a lifetime dog, she is such a fighter. She proudly wears the bandana that her oncologist gave her that says Stronger than Cancer.
I appreciate every single moment we have together, and while I continue to worry about her- she continues to live life big.