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Rottweiler Health Foundation Mission Statementimage: Trotting Rottweiler

To raise money to fund critical research into the genetic, communicable and acquired diseases that plague our beloved breed, the Rottweiler.

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Winter 2008
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SHARED REAL STORIES
 Photo: Payton

Our Rottweiler 'Payton'
Dealing with Osteosarcoma

Submitted by Anthony Coppollo on 08/02/07

 
I truly never understood the saying " A dog is a mans best friend" until I had the privilege of sharing my life with my Rottweiler Payton. Payton is a 7-1/2 year old Rottweiler and has just recently been diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a fast spreading cancer of the bone. The cancer is located in his left hind leg and the detection of the cancer was fairly early. I had blood work and a chest x-ray done, the blood work came back normal at this time and his chest x-ray was negative, but from all the literature that I've read I know that a negative result doesn't mean that the cancer isn't there.

Although my vet told me that she is 99.9% sure that this is osteosarcoma Payton will be going into surgery in a few days for a biopsy to make sure. If the biopsy is positive, I am considering amputation of his left hind leg. If all goes well, which I pray to God that it does, I will have him treated with chemo and other natural cancer fighting supplements. I know many dog owner's go through this, especially Rottweiler owners, and my heart goes out to all of them. Watching him lay there knowing that he is in pain absolutely rips my heart out and giving him the pain meds to control his pain is just as hard because he's so out of it.

The remarkable thing about Rottweilers are that there such devoted dogs that they don't show you the pain they're in, almost as if there trying to make you feel better about the situation and comfort you. He still continues to follow me around the house and yard despite the pain he's feeling and looks at me with such love in his eyes.

I feel Payton has been and still is an ambassador for all Rottweilers because of his great temperament and his friendly greetings towards all people that he meets, showing the true demeanor of most Rottweilers.  I don't want to sound selfish, but I don't think either one of us are ready to let go yet. I never want him to suffer or feel pain, but I feel in my heart that he's going to fight this horrible disease and if he gets a year or two more of pain free, good quality life, I think we'll both be happy.

I am writing this quick story about Payton because I only ask one thing from people who read this, please say a prayer for Payton and all other dogs out there who suffer from any kind of disease or illness. Payton has brought so much joy to my life and others that I feel he deserves a little more time on this earth.

Photo: Anthony with Payton Photo: Payton with friend

Dedicated to Payton, the bravest friend a man has ever had.
 

UPDATE 08/18/2007: 

Thank you so much for sharing our story with others.  I just wanted to update everyone on Payton.  First let me say that if we listened to our vet, Payton wouldn't be here right now.  The vet suggested that we give him enough pain meds to let him pass away comfortably.  He said that based on the size of the tumor, it had likely spread. We decided against this because we felt that Payton wasn't ready to leave us yet, I think for all the joy and happy memories that he has brought us we owed him another shot at life.

Payton made it through his amputation 9 days ago. The post amputation biopsy results of the tumor came back that it was osteosarcoma.  However, the lymph node in his amputated leg was 'clean' and free of cancer, the vet was surprised and said this was great news. The lymph node is first screen that the cancer would have had to spread through, no cancer in the lymph node meant that it hadn't spread to other parts of his body yet, especially his lungs.

Payton is adjusting very well and we are thankful that we didn't listen to the first vet and had a second opinion.  Hopefully, we suggest that anyone who receives this news from their vet gets a second opinion, even a third. The more we read, the more similar stories we hear. Vets are giving a 2-3 month diagnosis and discouraging against amputation and chemo because 'it has already spread' and would not be worth 'putting your dog through'.  Hopefully Payton and other dogs will beat the odds, so far so good for Payton. Thank you to anybody who read Payton's story and said a prayer for him and thanks to the Rottweiler Health Foundation for posting Payton's story.
 
Photo: Payton after surgery We know that he has a long road ahead of him and there's no guarantee that cancer won't come back somewhere else in the future. Payton seems to be a happy dog again and he no longer bares the pain of bone cancer. We're just taking it one day at a time and hoping for the best. We started a blog about Payton's fight against cancer and hopefully it will give others hope who are faced with  similar situations. www.mydoglickedcancer.blogspot.com

I give permission for others to contact me. Anthony Coppolo:  ACOPPOLO1@nycap.rr.com

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