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Winter 2008

SHARED REAL STORIES

Submitted by Cary Silverman
on March 24, 2004

Magnum was one of four Rottweilers that grace our lives.  He was the only male we had and by far the sweetest dog I have ever known in my life.  In September of 2001 after having gone out before bedtime, I noticed when he came back inside he had a lump on his right front leg.  It was almost like it came out of nowhere.  First it wasn’t there, and 10 minutes later it was there.  We were certain that he must have been bitten by something while he was out.  The next day we took him to our vet to have it checked out.  It was immediately diagnosed as a spider bite or another type of insect bite.  We were given an antibiotic solution to rub on it and were told to keep an eye on it for a few days.  It didn’t seem to bother Magnum, but nothing really ever did bother him. 

After 4 or 5 days, nothing changed in the lump.  We took him back to the vet at which time we were told that the lump really needed to be lacerated and cleaned out to remove any insect/spider toxins that may result in an infection.  There was something about our vet that didn’t sit right with me, so I told my wife that we really needed a second opinion before cutting into Magnum’s leg.  We took him to another vet that we knew and upon seeing the leg she exclaimed that it was no spider or insect bit.  It was a tumor.  She requested Magnum’s files from our vet and was shocked to see that no biopsy test had been run.  She aspirated the lump and sent the sample off for testing. Five days later, our worst fears were realized when she called us and told us Magnum’s lump was some type of malignancy.  She was unsure of the type but thought it may be fibrous in nature rather than on the bone.  The tumor was immediately removed and was so large that it had to be cut in half to fit in the specimen jar.  Three days after the surgery, we were given a bit of good news.  The tumor was in fact cancer, but it was fibrosarcoma and not bone cancer.

For the next 13 weeks, Magnum underwent intense radiation therapy at the University of Auburn and the University of Georgia.  After those 13 weeks, he was given a clean bill of health.  He had beaten the cancer!  The radiation never bothered him at all, and he seemed to enjoy his road trips to Auburn, Alabama and Athens, Georgia where he made lots of friends.  Magnum never met a soul he didn’t like and everyone that met him just loved him.

Then came Thanksgiving week the next year (2002).  I let Magnum out before going to bed and about 10 minutes later he was barking at the bottom of the steps that go out to our backyard.  He couldn’t get back upstairs.  I took him around the front of the house and let him in the front door.  The next day, we noticed that he was having trouble getting up and walking, showing a definite limp.  We took him to our vet and after running some tests, she suspected that he might have torn a ligament in his back leg since the injury seemed to have come on suddenly.  She referred us to a specialist who did some X-rays and discovered another tumor on Magnum’s pelvis.  After tests were run, he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma of his back right pelvis.  We were told to put him down that there was really nothing that could be done. 

Amputation was not an option.  Magnum was nearly 10 years old and had a real problem with anesthesia.  He would never survive the surgery.  He was given 6-8 weeks to live.  Needless to say, we were devastated.  He beats cancer a year ago and it attacks him again?  God must really need his sweetness and kindness more than us to keep trying to take him from us.

We took him home with us and just loved on him for the next two months until we had to let him go on February 5, 2003, almost 8 weeks to the date that he started limping.  He could no longer defecate due to the tumor, so he quit eating.  Our vet came to our house and Magnum died in our arms.  He was three months shy of his tenth birthday and not a day goes by that we do not talk about him.  We took all of our other Rottweilers off S. Diet dog food, and started them on all natural food.  My wife started making all their treats for them, and that has since grown into a thriving gourmet pet treat bakery business that is a fitting tribute to Magnum.

One thing that I can tell all of you from this experience is that the only thing that worked to ease Magnum’s pain in his pelvis was acupuncture.  Our vet recommended it to us and after only one session, Magnum was able to get up and walk on his own without pain!  We took him off all the pain medicine that he was on once we started the acupuncture.  It was, quite honestly, the most amazing thing my wife and I have ever seen.  The sessions were inexpensive and really worked.  It hasn’t been around for 5000 years for nothing!  Please try this for pain.  It really helped Magnum and he was really so happy those last 8 weeks.  Thank you for allowing me to share my story, my experience and my advice with all of you.