|
Unfortunately this is our second
letter to the Rottweiler Health Foundation
in less than a year.
Our first story was about our Rottweiler 'Thor'
whose story is
also on this web site.
This story is about our wonderful female Rottweiler, her name was Thunder and she was 11
years old. Thunder
was a very special dog and big part of our family,
she was our first Rott and she is one of the main
reasons that this breed will always be a part of
family.
One month after Thor died, Thunder
was diagnosed with bone cancer.
On a sunny afternoon last September she was
lying on our back deck when I called her in, she
stood up and fell back down with a loud yelp. I ran to her and found that she could not stand up and you
could not touch her back hind leg.
We took her to our Vet and after he did
some x-rays, found that she had broken a bone
in the top of her hind leg near her hip.
We were dumbfounded, we could not figure
out how she had done this. We then consulted an
Orthopedic Surgeon and he told us that to get a
break where she had it was almost impossible; she
would have to be hit by a car because of the
amount of muscle mass surrounding that area.
That is when we were informed that she had
a tumor on the bone causing it to become weak.
We had three choices:
One,
he could operate and see if he could put
a plate in her leg but, if the cancer was too bad
she would have to be put down.
Two,
he could amputate her leg but, the odds
were that the cancer would spread to her lungs
within 4-6 months.
Three, we could take her home and give her the best possible life we
could. We
choose number three, because of her age and the tumor
that was found. We wanted to give her everything
that was in our power to give for the time she had
left.
 |
Thunder gave us seven more months of all the
love she had and in return we kept her comfortable
and gave her back all the love we could.
|
She had some trouble going up and
down stairs, but we helped her.
On March 10, 2003 she woke up and was
unable to walk at all, she could not move her back
legs, but her spirit was great, she still gave
kisses and cuddled into you when lying beside her
and she still ate all her food.
But the problem was she was paralyzed.
We took her to the vet that evening and he
told us that the cancer had gotten into her spine
and one of the disks had either broken away or
dissolved, and that was why she could not walk.
We had run out of options and the decision
was taken out of our hands the time had come to
show her all the love we could and finally relieve
her of all the pain she was in. So we did the hardest thing that we had ever done in our
lives and let her go.
Our comfort is knowing that she is
with Thor once again and they are running wild and
free in Rainbow Bridge.
We miss them both very much and they will
always have a special place in our hearts and we
will never forget them.
I also have done extensive research
on foods, we believe that commercial dog food had
something to do with this awful disease.
When Thor died, we took both of our
remaining dogs off that food and I began to make
my own food -- what a difference.
They both thrived, they lost excess weight
and their coats were soft and shiny.
They became more playful and had much more
energy. It
was too late for Thunder and Thor but I hope that
it is not too late for our other Rottweilers.
For more information about the food that I
make, please e-mail me at brainpinky@hotmail.com
.
|
Rottweiler
Health Foundation Mission Statement
