Unwell Rotties

[gemstone]

oh no, not another one. Its so sad

good luck and I hope you have heaps of quality time left

take care

[cavNrott]

We have just found out that our Rottie, Brodie, has bone cancer. He just turned 7 in November. It started with a lump I found on his left shoulder last Wednesday and x-rays show that it has already started to spread to his lungs. The vet gives him anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months left to live. I am getting him started on a cancer-starving diet by starting to switch him to a grain-free food and I am going to be increasing his protein intake and supplementing with wild sockeye salmon oil capsules to give him an extra boost of Omega-3. There are a couple other things I am also going to try to see if they have any affect. So far Brodie shows no signs of being ill. He is still running around like the big goof that he's always been.

JD I'm so sorry to hear you and your boy are travelling the dark road of osteosarcoma.

There are things that can help Brodie have quality of life with osteosarcoma. My girl had her first biopsy in September 2007 and the results were inconclusive. Her second biopsy was in December 2007 and her prognosis at that time was 'probably about 3 weeks'. She lived happily and pain free for 53 weeks after her first biopsy.

Sophie felt well and happy with good quality of life throughout her battle. My main objective was to keep her pain free and we were able to achieve that.

Sophie had tissue biopsies, I wouldn't put her through a painful bone biopsy. She had osteosarcoma of the mandible, we could see it on xray.

If you read back through this thread I mentioned some of the natural and conventional meds Sophie had. I also posted a link to a great website that explains the cancer starving diet along with excellent information about cancer in dogs. I would go back and find the info and website but the loss of my girl is still too painful for me to read back through our journey to the end.

There are two products in particular that I think were very good. One is Artemisinin and the other one is Avemar. You might like to research these products. I wish I had found these two products at the beginning of Sophie's cancer but I didn't stumble across them until much later.

I believe the natural meds Sophie was taking enabled her to have a happy and pain free life. For pain control she had Tramadol which was very effective. Pain free is the most important thing we can do for our osteosarcoma dogs.

I wish you and your Brodie well, every day you have eachother is a bonus.

[Nekhbet]

JD19 that is so terrible that your lovely man has been diagnosed cavNrott is a wealth of information about these things so stick with her!

*** And a little Diesel update ... We found an infection in one of his feet has been giving him grief! Great news (weird I know) but this is the cause of his hobbling, not his elbows as previously thought! Damn these dogs all they do is give us heart attacks

[oonga]

Nekhbet,

Diesel is looking gorgeous great to hear that his foot is sore and not his elbows

Kizzybear and JD19 so sorry to hear your puppies are not well

[JD19]

Brodie started limping yesterday. He is now on Tramadol and Duramaxx to control any pain. It seems to being working quite well right now. He is not limping near as bad as he was yesterday afternoon.

Edited January 22, 2009 by JD19

[traciemc]

Best wishes to everyone and prayers for the sick rotties - I lost both my rotties to cancer, my girl to lymphoma aged 11 years and my boy to stomach cancer aged 8yrs. I love them and still miss them both so much, every day. This disease is a terrible scourge on this beautiful breed.

[cavNrott]

Best wishes to everyone and prayers for the sick rotties - I lost both my rotties to cancer, my girl to lymphoma aged 11 years and my boy to stomach cancer aged 8yrs. I love them and still miss them both so much, every day. This disease is a terrible scourge on this beautiful breed.

I'll add my best wishes to all the sick Rotties. I miss Sophie every day. She is the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing before I go to sleep. I wonder if I will ever really come to terms with my loss of her and find peace.

There is so much cancer in our breed. So many people I'm in contact with are broken hearted because their Rotties are either fighting this disease now or they have recently lost their dogs to cancer.

[traciemc]

Best wishes to everyone and prayers for the sick rotties - I lost both my rotties to cancer, my girl to lymphoma aged 11 years and my boy to stomach cancer aged 8yrs. I love them and still miss them both so much, every day. This disease is a terrible scourge on this beautiful breed.

I'll add my best wishes to all the sick Rotties. I miss Sophie every day. She is the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing before I go to sleep. I wonder if I will ever really come to terms with my loss of her and find peace.

There is so much cancer in our breed. So many people I'm in contact with are broken hearted because their Rotties are either fighting this disease now or they have recently lost their dogs to cancer.

I feel so sorry for you cavNrott, I know exactly what you are going through. I don't know if you ever really get over the loss of your heart dog.

My baby Alexis was my first dog, my family had always had labs who were family dogs, but she was mine. The relationship we had for eleven years was very special. I'll never forget the day I woke up to see her face all swollen, I called a vet to the house who told me she had been stung by a bee. When it only got worse I knew it was only going to be bad news, and she was diagnosed with lymphoma. I think back now and feel guilty about all I put her through but I was inexperienced with the disease and desperate to save her. I think too that the vet was more concerned with the money than with her...but ultimately it had to end with me letting her go. I'll never forget that day. I was devastated, and I still feel the loss of her, but now not so painfully.

When my rescue boy Boney went off his food I knew he was sick and when he wouldn't even take bbq chicken from my hand I knew it was serious. I found another vet, a practising Buddhist, who diagnosed a large inoperable tumour in his stomach. He gave me medication for his pain and told me to come back when we were both ready. I used to lay with Boney every night and talk to him, and one night he told me he was ready to go. Taking him to the vet and knowing he was not coming home was the hardest thing I have ever done. I sat with his beautiful head in my lap and soothed him into his final sleep.

I have both their ashes in urns in my house and lots of pics of them both, I still miss them and talk to them every day. I think they are together again and waiting for me.

I hope your grief over the loss of your beautiful girl will get easier for you to bear, and I'm sure one day you will be able to think of her with all the love but not the sadness. I'm sure she would want it that way.

[Staffyluv]

Best wishes to everyone and prayers for the sick rotties - I lost both my rotties to cancer, my girl to lymphoma aged 11 years and my boy to stomach cancer aged 8yrs. I love them and still miss them both so much, every day. This disease is a terrible scourge on this beautiful breed.

I'll add my best wishes to all the sick Rotties. I miss Sophie every day. She is the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing before I go to sleep. I wonder if I will ever really come to terms with my loss of her and find peace.

There is so much cancer in our breed. So many people I'm in contact with are broken hearted because their Rotties are either fighting this disease now or they have recently lost their dogs to cancer.

I was only thinking about you and Sophie this morning and I thought I would just check and here you are.

I am so sorry that it is still hard for you but I understand. I don't think anyone would stop missing a much loved pet - they are so much a part of the family, like one of the kids (and I know there are those out there that say don't humanise your pets, but it is so hard not to when they are ill and helpless).

Hugs to you and best wishes to all the sick Rotts.

Jodie and Ollie dog

[cavNrott]

Thanks Jodie for thinking of us and to traciemc for the kind comments.

Jodie as you know only too well, we form a very strong bond indeed with a dog we are palliatively caring for. Sophie and I spent all day every day together in her last year and her medication schedule was every 2 hours, day and night so we were interacting all the time. We had complete trust in eachother. When she needed to go she left a huge void that I have yet to come to terms with.

I know how lucky I am that Sophie had such a fighting spirit and made everything easy for me. I think that last year was probably the most precious time we had together.

I guess in time it will become easier.

How is the beautiful Ollie boy going? Give him some cuddles from me.

[griff]

Oh My God Anne.. I know how you are feeling and Your words

are as though they come from my mouth ,my thoughts

I to Miss Sinna so very very much the hurt I feel is unbearable

the emptiness is immense.

thinking of you and all that have lost our loved rotties to cancer.

[oonga]

Sending big hugs to you cavNrott and Griff

Healing vibes to our sick Rottweliers.

Jodie and Ollie Dog Special hugs for you guys too

[Nekhbet]

This disease is a terrible scourge on this beautiful breed.

Sadly so true. OHs last rottweiler Templar was PTS due to cancer in his leg, and being 90kg amputation was not a promising route.

Going through what we have with Diesel, the constant problems, pain, and watching a dog with a 50% quality of life I've said no more rottweilers. I love them as a breed but I can't watch this all over again. Same with GSDs, I think Krueger will be my last ever - the pain of watching your beloved dog suffer, lie alone and push everyone away because of constant pain is too much for me.

[Staffyluv]

Just checking the palliative care thread and thought I would pop in and wish you all the best again...

[cavNrott]

Sadly so true. OHs last rottweiler Templar was PTS due to cancer in his leg, and being 90kg amputation was not a promising route.

Going through what we have with Diesel, the constant problems, pain, and watching a dog with a 50% quality of life I've said no more rottweilers. I love them as a breed but I can't watch this all over again. Same with GSDs, I think Krueger will be my last ever - the pain of watching your beloved dog suffer, lie alone and push everyone away because of constant pain is too much for me.

Goodness, 90kg!!! I've never heard of a Rottweiler as big as that.

We didn't let Sophie suffer pain. It was absolute priority to keep her pain free. If she had pain I would have put her to rest earlier. There are strong pain relief drugs available that we used and they were very effective. The vet and oncologist left the strength and frequency of Sophie's pain meds up to me. I kept her on fairly strong pain meds because I believe it's easier to prevent pain than deal with existing pain. I also kept a drug here that stops breakthrough pain but Sophie never needed it.

Sophie coped so well, never lost her appetite and never went away from me to be alone. I don't think it was in her nature to isolate. She followed me from room to room right up to her last day. She remained playful but did sleep more as time went on. Her energy level declined but she was always with me and always up for a short game of fetch. Apart from 2 days throughout that whole year when she did seem to be off colour and tired, she was her usual happy self.

Sophie's quality of life was paramount. When she was awake she was fine, it was near the end when she was sleeping that I could see her body reacting to the cancer. When I saw that, then her lymph gland enlarged overnight is when she was put to sleep. I knew then that her cancer had spread and had I let her go on she would have suffered.

I miss sharing my life with Sophie and I always will. I know how lucky I was to have her. She was one of those very special dogs.

[Nekhbet]

Yeah I saw photos of Templar that dog was built more like a mastiff then a rottweiler! And he had ANKC papers so definately rott big sooky boy he was

Krueger got to the point where high meds didnt curb the pain, he didnt want to play or really interact. He just wanted to be alone and on our last walk together he limped along beside me and gave me a lean, like 'its OK mum'. Poor bugger gave me one last hug and even stretched out his leg for the needle. He was never the huggiest of dogs and most people terrified him so for Kruegs that was quite a statement.

Pain meds for diesel ... nope. He has an emergency stash in case but he reacts badly too them and lots of meds for him drive him downhill. He's still hopping and tottering about on thos big daddy long legs of his so we'll have him about as long as he's happy. this quick cold snap has brought around a bit of pain and stiffness so he has his own doona, jacket, bed and even a hot water bottle if he needs it. The fact the silly bugger has skinned a section on his tail hasnt helped this week so he's being super sook :cool: This winter looks like a cold one so looks like I'll be sewing a fleecy pyjama for D hmmm anyone have a pattern?

[JD19]

Sorry I haven't been back to give an update in awhile, so here goes. It's been almost 5 months since Brodie's diagnosis and he's still with us and as goofy as ever. He is still on pain meds but I was able to reduce the amount from 2 tablets 3 times a day to 2 tablets twice a day. Which the vets were happy to hear. We've also had 2 sets of follow-up x-rays. One set in March and another set today and the vets couldn't see any noticeable changes in either the lump on his shoulder on the spots in his lungs which they were quite surprised about. So, all in all we had a great visit to the vet this afternoon and were told to keep doing what we're doing because whatever it is it seems to be working.

[oonga]

JD19

Fantastic to hear that Brodie is doing so well!!! Keep up the good work you are doing!!! Give the boy a hug

[Nekhbet]

that is fabulous JD19 I am sure you are cherishing every moment.

we are after if anyone has information about how to make a splint for Diesels hind leg. We are fearing he may not last until christmas he has recently gone downhill and that hock and hip is not helping. The leg rotates, it has not been in the socket properly for months but I think its putting strain on the hock even more.

any ideas or recommendations welcome. Maybe we should just make him a cart *sigh*

[Nekhbet]

Well I think the time will come sooner then later for Diesel boy. His legs have really gone downhill in the past week. I have been in Melbourne for 5 days working and I came back last night. He's not a pretty sight his right leg is so much worst. It's barely holding on, he stood in the lounge yesterday looking at me and his foot was out at almost a 90 degree angle to his body His elbows are now bowing as well to try and support all his bodyweight since his back end's on the verge of collapse poor poppet was so happy to see me he was bounding about like a bunny last nite rotty wiggling away. THen he just lay on the floor and didnt want to get up no matter how much I called him he over did it.

Diesel just turned a whole 2 years old on the 28th of August ... It's Krueger all over again. 2nd birthday and euthanasia when his back end gave up on him. Looks like my poor D will go the same way.

I want to make a website of him. I can't just let him be forgotten. He had so much to offer the world and negligent morons bred him with a death sentence. It's not fair. How many other people are going through the same thing, watching their animals waste before them and struggle in their short young lives. I'm just so angry at the moment I've been crying all morning.

Edited September 1, 2009 by Nekhbet