Unwell Rotties

[oonga]

Seeing as we have a Sub Forum,

I thought i might start a thread for our sick puppies.

I thought so it does not get lost amongst the general rotty thread we could send our thoughts and prayers to the rotties we know of that are unwell or dying.

It could also be a place for owners to come and give us updates and also a haven from all the chit chat and irrelevant stuff that goes on in the general rotty thread.

I understand at times scrolling through all the silliness can get tedious at the best of times let alone when going through trauma with sick puppies.

So I will say BIG Healing hugs to Sophie, Kiesha, Zed, Baylee and Sinna.

If i have forgotten anyone please do not be offended it was certainly not on purpose!!

Comforting hugs to cavNrottm Bluepoppy, ZnQ, Grumpette and Griff

Edited January 26, 2008 by oonga

[jesomil]

This is a great idea Oonga.

I always think about those with their sick pups but sometimes it is hard to find the updates amongst everything else.

to all the sick Rottys and their owners and hope everyone is going well today.

[kiahzen]

Thanks oonga...

I guess that there seem to be so many sick Rotts at the moment and not everyone can find the updates in the normal thread so this way they can go to one place and not have to hunt through pages of Chatter to find it...

[TeamSnag]

Even tho i dont own a rotti just would like to send my well wishes to thoes who dogs that are sick

Hope all is well

Edited January 26, 2008 by SeaMonKeY

[kiahzen]

ZnQ... How is Zed today?

Has his wee improved, i hope that he is not getting worse.....

[KOE]

Best wishes to the ROtts

[cavNrott]

Thanks Troy for giving us this sub forum.

Hopefully it will be a haven of support and encouragement to those of us who have sick and dying dogs. A place where we can receive health advice and moral support from others who have travelled this road. It's a difficult path to travel living with the knowledge that our dogs are dying. We know that each day we have with our dogs could be their last day. We live with this sadness and despair every minute of the day. The moral support from those who care gives us strength.

I find it difficult to post updates on Sophie in the general Rotty thread. It's a very upbeat thread and mainly off topic. I feel out of place posting bad news when people are having fun with their posts, it seems I'm bringing the thread down.

Also there's the need to acknowledge people who have offered their moral support but I miss some who should be thanked because it's difficult to find their posts amongst the many pages that have been added since their post of support.

I hope the people who object to this new sub forum will try to understand why it's needed. It will happen to all of us one day, that we will lose our dogs long before we are ready.

I am one person who asked Troy for this section and if that annoys some folk then I have to wear it.

[oonga]

cavNrott,

how is Sophie today?

is she coping with the heat?

is the day after her chemo day a more upbeat one for her?

[cavNrott]

Seeing as we have a Sub Forum,

I thought i might start a thread for our sick puppies.

I thought so it does not get lost amongst the general rotty thread we could send our thoughts and prayers to the rotties we know of that are unwell or dying.

It could also be a place for owners to come and give us updates and also a haven from all the chit chat and irrelevant stuff that goes on in the general rotty thread.

I understand at times scrolling through all the silliness can get tedious at the best of times let alone when going through trauma with sick puppies.

So I will say BIG Healing hugs to Sophie, Kiesha, Zed, Baylee and Sinna.

If i have forgotten anyone please do not be offended it was certainly not on purpose!!

Comforting hugs to cavNrottm Bluepoppy, ZnQ, Grumpette and Griff

Oonga thank you for being supportive. It's encouraging to know you understand why this thread has been set up and your understanding is appreciated.

GRIFF: Is Sinna sick? I must have missed it in the Rotty thread. I hope it's nothing serious and wish her a speedy recovery.

[Mr R & NR]

CNR do you have and end date for the chemo treatment, is it on a week off a week or 6 weeks of treatment etc. Just wondering? Also when do you go back to the oncologist?

[griff]

Thank you Troy C n R Oonga

for thinking of those who are having a hard time at the moment

my thoughts are with those sick dogs that we know about and those we dont know about .

Healing thoughts , stay strong thoughts , enjoy as much time as you can with the fur kids thoughts,

are going out to everyone each and every day from me.

C n R thank you

Sinna has been on meds for a while now ,

for thyroid and for weakness in the back end.

nothing too major at this time 'tis just a sign of old age creeping up.

[berty]

Thanks Troy for giving us this sub forum.

Hopefully it will be a haven of support and encouragement to those of us who have sick and dying dogs. A place where we can receive health advice and moral support from others who have travelled this road. It's a difficult path to travel living with the knowledge that our dogs are dying. We know that each day we have with our dogs could be their last day. We live with this sadness and despair every minute of the day. The moral support from those who care gives us strength.

I find it difficult to post updates on Sophie in the general Rotty thread. It's a very upbeat thread and mainly off topic. I feel out of place posting bad news when people are having fun with their posts, it seems I'm bringing the thread down.

Also there's the need to acknowledge people who have offered their moral support but I miss some who should be thanked because it's difficult to find their posts amongst the many pages that have been added since their post of support.

I hope the people who object to this new sub forum will try to understand why it's needed. It will happen to all of us one day, that we will lose our dogs long before we are ready.

I am one person who asked Troy for this section and if that annoys some folk then I have to wear it.

i think its an excellent idea ! sometimes i feel reluctant to ask about sophie but now you can update us thru this thread and we can help , cry, laugh, with you , i know about osteo sacrcoma as you know ,i wish there had of been a forum then for me to share my thoughts and how i was feeling instead of feeling alone and scared of losing my precious girl , the people i worked with at the time kept saying" its only a dog get over it "and when the time came for me to let go of her i needed time off work and they told me to get a life , i told them to get stu@$%d , at least people here understand the pain your going thru , it doesnt matter the whos who of rottweilers or who we like or dislike in our world (of rotts) the pain is the same ! for all of us .

and if sophie is cruz s sister that makes her in a( human sense ) my baby bertha s aunty ! small world .

Edited January 26, 2008 by berty

[laneka]

What a lovely idea this thread is.

I do hope all our sick friends are feeling better today.

CavNrott, I too would like to know about Sophie's chemo treatment. How long does it go for? Can you please explain the whole treatment. I am sorry if you have already done so, I must have missed it.

BP, I think Keisha looks lovely with her cone head, she really is smiling at you.

ZednQ, I hope Zed is coping with this heat and his urine comes back to normal colour soon.

[kiahzen]

It's amazing at how much her head shape has changed over the last few weeks and it is really noticeable now...

I was looking at pics taken in sept and the ones that i posted last night and the difference is amazing...

I dont think that i have found another dog that has had Osteosarcoma in the same place as Kiesha so it is hard to know what will happen to her in the comming weeks..

All i can tell is that she is starting to get quite weak in the back and she has a bit more trouble getting on and off the lounge..

She looks quite shiny in photos but not in real life, she is very dull and grey looking...

She is more quiet than she used to be and looks so sad sometimes..

[Andisa]

Got to admit this is a great idea. It is going to be much easier keeping up with everyones sick dogs without risking asking something that has already been answered.

Sending healing vibes to Sophie, Kiesha, Zed, Bailey and Sinna. Hoping you all have had better days today.

[Allerzeit]

It's amazing at how much her head shape has changed over the last few weeks and it is really noticeable now...

I was looking at pics taken in sept and the ones that i posted last night and the difference is amazing...

I dont think that i have found another dog that has had Osteosarcoma in the same place as Kiesha so it is hard to know what will happen to her in the comming weeks..

All i can tell is that she is starting to get quite weak in the back and she has a bit more trouble getting on and off the lounge..

She looks quite shiny in photos but not in real life, she is very dull and grey looking...

She is more quiet than she used to be and looks so sad sometimes..

Ahh crap, BP ;)

Sending many thoughts to you and to Keisha along with lots of :cool: and

Lots of healing thoughts and strength thoughts to Sophie, Bayee and Zed as well - and to their humans of course!!

Griff - give Sinna a big cuddle from me to, the old darling

[Allerzeit]

i wish there had of been a forum then for me to share my thoughts and how i was feeling instead of feeling alone and scared of losing my precious girl , the people i worked with at the time kept saying" its only a dog get over it "and when the time came for me to let go of her i needed time off work and they told me to get a life , i told them to get stu@$%d , at least people here understand the pain your going thru , it doesnt matter the whos who of rottweilers or who we like or dislike in our world (of rotts) the pain is the same ! for all of us .

and if sophie is cruz s sister that makes her in a( human sense ) my baby bertha s aunty ! small world .

What a horrid time you had of it, berty :cool:

With Stewie I created a thread about his osteosarcoma, and the support I received in that thread was incredibly important to me. I still go back and read it when I need a good cry.

[Dellahar]

Thank you Troy C n R Oonga

for thinking of those who are having a hard time at the moment

:cool:

my thoughts are with those sick dogs that we know about and those we dont know about .

Healing thoughts , stay strong thoughts , enjoy as much time as you can with the fur kids thoughts,

are going out to everyone each and every day from me.

C n R thank you

Sinna has been on meds for a while now ,

for thyroid and for weakness in the back end.

nothing too major at this time 'tis just a sign of old age creeping up.

Sorry Lors I didnt realize dear old Sinna wasnt herself, please give her a hug from me and tell her to hang in there.

[griff]

Griff - give Sinna a big cuddle from me to, the old darling

Sorry Lors I didnt realize dear old Sinna wasnt herself,

please give her a hug from me and tell her to hang in there.

thanks Allerzeit and Di .. Hugs given to her . :cool:

BP, i so hate the sad look ,I really wish they cold talk to us.

[cavNrott]

CNR do you have and end date for the chemo treatment, is it on a week off a week or 6 weeks of treatment etc. Just wondering? Also when do you go back to the oncologist?

CavNrott, I too would like to know about Sophie's chemo treatment. How long does it go for? Can you please explain the whole treatment. I am sorry if you have already done so, I must have missed it.

Sophie is not actually on chemotherapy treatment. She has one chemo drug amongst the other drugs she's taking. She's on a multi drug therapy called a metronomics therapy that I administer at home. The chemo drug is given to her every 48 hours together with a diuretic drug. If she was on typical chemo she'd have to spend time in the hospital and I've not seen any convincing evidence that chemo works to extend life for long with osteosarcoma. That plus I don't want her to go through the stress of being in hospital after her last stint.

The last day she spent in hospital was on Christmas Eve when she had the gum tumour biopsied and debulked. That day was traumatic for her and me. When I went to collect her she was howling loudly and the nurse said she'd been howling since she came out of the anaesthetic. I've never heard Sophie howl before. She stopped when she came out to me and when we drove into to our driveway she cried, she was so pleased to be home. I've never heard her cry before either.

I won't put her through that again and I'm not one bit happy about the way she was treated at the vets. She was in pain and her severe pain contined for 3 days. I felt the vet could at least have given her decent pain relief. The pain meds I kept at home weren't strong enough for her. Another trip by me to the vet without Sophie soon remedied that situation and we then had adequate pain relief.

The chemo drug she has is to try to slow down the progression of the cancer. She is also on a drug to try to strengthen and build bone in her jaw. She is on a heavy dose of antibiotics and two pain relief drugs. One of them is an opiate and is far more effective than the other one. She has maxalon for nausea and the only time she's vomited was the day I tried her without the maxalon with her breakfast. The chemo drug causes nausea. Vomiting involves a complicated process of cleaning it up because it's cytotoxic due to the chemo drug.

I don't know if the chemo drug will be ongoing. I suspect she will be on it as long as she is alive. Same situation with the one for bone growth and the antibiotics. The pain relief will certainly be ongoing and I have a stronger opiate (in the form of syringes) than the opiate tablets she's having at the moment. That will be my last resort and I'll know then that Sophie's time has come when I need to use one of the syringes. My aim in all of this is to try to slow down the rapid progression of the cancer but mainly to keep Sophie pain free. The slowing down seems to be working because we didn't expect her to still be with us at this stage. Her gum tumour is more painful than her jaw.

I saw the oncologist once a week for the first two weeks. Our next appointment is next Friday so it will be 3 weeks. Her bloods and urine are taken each time we go there and if they look good we can do a 3 weekly visit instead of weekly.

Each time I go, there is either a drug added to the regime or replaced with a different drug. I'm sure they're doing their best with Sophie and I'm grateful they allow me to give her the chemo drug at home. It requires gloves and other precautions to handle it. Picking up poop also needs a double gloved approach and the area has to be treated with bleach.

Sophie sleeps more than she used to but otherwise she is the same happy and playful girl she's always been. She misses her walks but I won't take her outside of my property with so much parvo around. Her immune system would be very weak with the drugs she's on.

Sorry for the long post. Hope it explains to those who wanted to know.