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My Rottweiler 'Hakeem'
Dealing
with Osteosarcoma
Submitted by
Adele on 12/22/04
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My shared real story is about my
baby, Hakeem. I adopted Hakeem
from an animal shelter in Georgia.
He was close to a year old and it
was apparent that he had been abused
and neglected; however, he was very
sweet and loving.
He came into my life shortly after
my mother passed away and he was the
only family I had, since I was not
married at the time, have no
children and lived miles away from
my biological family. Whenever
I mourned her passing, I'd just lay
on his massive body and weep my
heart out and he'd just lay there
and comfort me until I slept.
He was full of energy, loved to run,
play with his toys, and try to
regulate everything around him.
Eventually, I married and he
accepted my husband and my two
stepchildren immediately.
A year or two ago, we noticed he was
having trouble getting up and took
him to the vet, and the vet
diagnosed him with arthritis and
prescribed appropriate meds. A
few months ago, he started limping
and wincing--so we took him back to
the vet. The vet diagnosed his
as having a ruptured ACL, and the x-rays
revealed a lump on his leg,
but it did not appear to be
cancerous. The vets advise was
to operate and monitor the lump.
We opted to treat him with natural
products (glucosamine-chrondriotin
and MSM).
Hakeem appeared to
bounce back!
He enjoyed walking again -- he even
ran from me when it was time to
collar-up from our walks, and he
hadn't done that since he was a
young one.
Well, a week after Thanksgiving we
noticed blood in his mouth. We
monitored it for a few days, but it
did not subside. We took him
to the vet and he did a biopsy of
the sore in the top of his mouth.
The biopsy report confirmed that
Hakeem had osteosarcoma in the oral
cavity. Our options were a
maxillectomy (top jaw removal),
which would only be palliative and
give him possibly 5 months. Or
do nothing, treat him with
anitbiotics and pain meds and he may
have 3 - 6 months. We opted
for the latter.
Things were going well, but then the
tumor began bleeding profusely,
his mouth smelled horrible and at
least three more tumors grew in 2
weeks time and were beginning to
push his teeth out.
Remarkably, he still wanted to and
liked to walk in the park and eat
heartily. However, he was
beginning to have labored breathing
and the inability to sleep
comfortably at night.
After much discussion, my husband
and I decided it best to relieve him
of his discomfort while he still had
his dignity and before he lost too
much blood. On December 17,
2004, my beloved Hakeem died in my
arms after being euthanized.
Not since my mother passed away has
my heart broken and ached like that
night. We will miss him
tremendously and are happy that we
were blessed with his beautiful and
loving spirit for his limited time
on earth.
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