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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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Summer, 2008
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SHARED REAL STORIES
Photo: Scarlett

My Rottweiler 'Scarlett'
Dealing with Osteosarcoma

Submitted by Suzanne Lisk on 10/24/07

email: RLISK1@TAMPABAY.RR.COM
Scarlett was a blessing since the day we got her.  I took Scarlett everywhere with me.  She enjoyed going to obedience school.  I felt it would be good for her and she loved it.  The trainer used to laugh when I would have to put her in the down position because she would lay down and then stretch out and put her hind feet stretched out to where they made a heart.  She would be farther up then the rest of the dogs in class but she was still down.

I would take her to my husband's work so she would get used to all of the noises.  At one point one vet thought she was getting cancer in her sinus's but nothing ever became of that.  We would take her on our boat with us and she loved swimming in the water.  When she was a puppy, she fell in my in-laws pool and has been a water baby ever since.  She loved the water so much that when we purchased another home we wanted a pool so she could go swimming in it.  If we were in it and she was in the house she would jump up and down at the sliding glass doors and hit the doors with her nose until we let her out.

In September 2005, I took Scarlett to have her yearly shots and they drew blood for her heartworm check.  I thought that they hit something in her leg, but in December 2005 she was favoring her right front leg even more and I felt it and it seemed okay to me but I still took her to have it checked out.  The doctor took x-rays and brought them in to show me.  It was difficult for the doctor to explain to me that she had osteosarcoma.  You could see the missing bone in the x-ray.  We discussed amputation but I was informed that once they are diagnosed with it that it is too late.  They gave us a time frame of around six months.

I tried ordering supplements to help prolong her life I even considered the raw meat diet but I had two other dogs.  We did give her canned food because it was the only thing we could get her to eat.  One night she let us know she was ready and we took her to the vet the next afternoon.  You talk about something very hard to do.  She usually loves going to the vet but this time she didn't even want to walk.  By this time her tumor went from the middle of her chest down past her elbow.

Our vet is wonderful and she discussed everything with me.  My husband couldn't come inside but I couldn't leave her. In the room they had a blanket down and she immediately went and lay down.  The doctor gave her a shot to relax and after a while came back in to do the injection and within moments she was gone.  She was so peaceful laying there.  My husband finally was able to come in the room and he thought she was just sleeping until I told him that she was gone.  We had her cremated and she is with us everyday.

I have another Rottweiler that is a diabetic and gets insulin shots twice daily, they even said within a year he might be blind.  I love the breed and we want another puppy but we have not been able to bring ourselves to getting one.  I guess we have been dealt a hand that we were meant to handle and I wouldn't trade either of them for nothing.

On Scarlett's remains we have her name the year she was born and when she passed and I had "Go Buc's" put on it because she always wore a buccaneer collar which is hanging in our truck since the day we had her put to sleep.  She is always alive in us and our lives.

 
I am glad for all of the survivors out there and sympathize with the ones who have lost their dear dogs.
 
Suzanne Lisk
Spring Hill, FL

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Webmaster note:  Check out a support organization for those individuals whose dogs have been diagnosed with bone cancer: www.bonecancerdogs.org

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