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Unwell Rotties


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i wish there had of been a forum then for me to share my thoughts and how i was feeling instead of feeling alone and scared of losing my precious girl , the people i worked with at the time kept saying" its only a dog get over it "and when the time came for me to let go of her i needed time off work and they told me to get a life , i told them to get stu@$%d , at least people here understand the pain your going thru , it doesnt matter the whos who of rottweilers or who we like or dislike in our world (of rotts) the pain is the same ! for all of us . :eek:

and if sophie is cruz s sister that makes her in a( human sense ) my baby bertha s aunty ! small world .

What a horrid time you had of it, berty :cool:

With Stewie I created a thread about his osteosarcoma, and the support I received in that thread was incredibly important to me. I still go back and read it when I need a good cry.

CNR do you have and end date for the chemo treatment, is it on a week off a week or 6 weeks of treatment etc. Just wondering? Also when do you go back to the oncologist?
CavNrott, I too would like to know about Sophie's chemo treatment. How long does it go for? Can you please explain the whole treatment. I am sorry if you have already done so, I must have missed it.

Sophie is not actually on chemotherapy treatment. She has one chemo drug amongst the other drugs she's taking. She's on a multi drug therapy called a metronomics therapy that I administer at home. The chemo drug is given to her every 48 hours together with a diuretic drug. If she was on typical chemo she'd have to spend time in the hospital and I've not seen any convincing evidence that chemo works to extend life for long with osteosarcoma. That plus I don't want her to go through the stress of being in hospital after her last stint.

The last day she spent in hospital was on Christmas Eve when she had the gum tumour biopsied and debulked. That day was traumatic for her and me. When I went to collect her she was howling loudly and the nurse said she'd been howling since she came out of the anaesthetic. I've never heard Sophie howl before. She stopped when she came out to me and when we drove into to our driveway she cried, she was so pleased to be home. I've never heard her cry before either.

I won't put her through that again and I'm not one bit happy about the way she was treated at the vets. She was in pain and her severe pain contined for 3 days. I felt the vet could at least have given her decent pain relief. The pain meds I kept at home weren't strong enough for her. Another trip by me to the vet without Sophie soon remedied that situation and we then had adequate pain relief.

The chemo drug she has is to try to slow down the progression of the cancer. She is also on a drug to try to strengthen and build bone in her jaw. She is on a heavy dose of antibiotics and two pain relief drugs. One of them is an opiate and is far more effective than the other one. She has maxalon for nausea and the only time she's vomited was the day I tried her without the maxalon with her breakfast. The chemo drug causes nausea. Vomiting involves a complicated process of cleaning it up because it's cytotoxic due to the chemo drug.

I don't know if the chemo drug will be ongoing. I suspect she will be on it as long as she is alive. Same situation with the one for bone growth and the antibiotics. The pain relief will certainly be ongoing and I have a stronger opiate (in the form of syringes) than the opiate tablets she's having at the moment. That will be my last resort and I'll know then that Sophie's time has come when I need to use one of the syringes. My aim in all of this is to try to slow down the rapid progression of the cancer but mainly to keep Sophie pain free. The slowing down seems to be working because we didn't expect her to still be with us at this stage. Her gum tumour is more painful than her jaw.

I saw the oncologist once a week for the first two weeks. Our next appointment is next Friday so it will be 3 weeks. Her bloods and urine are taken each time we go there and if they look good we can do a 3 weekly visit instead of weekly.

Each time I go, there is either a drug added to the regime or replaced with a different drug. I'm sure they're doing their best with Sophie and I'm grateful they allow me to give her the chemo drug at home. It requires gloves and other precautions to handle it. Picking up poop also needs a double gloved approach and the area has to be treated with bleach.

Sophie sleeps more than she used to but otherwise she is the same happy and playful girl she's always been. She misses her walks but I won't take her outside of my property with so much parvo around. Her immune system would be very weak with the drugs she's on.

Sorry for the long post. Hope it explains to those who wanted to know.

I think this is a truly wonderful idea to have this part where people can support each other. My avatar was my heart dog I lost him to Osteosarcoma nearly 3 years ago, this is how I found Dol I was researching trying to find answers if we could have done anything differently to save him, I was very lost and it took alot of courage to make my first post when a topic came up about how much money did people think was reasonable to spend on a dog our vet bill for him was $9500.00 and I would have found a million dollars if I had to just to save him, Rottshowgirl was so nice and welcoming to me and I was sitting there bawling thinking people would think I was silly but I felt alot of support which I needed at that time. I don't post much about cancer with the dogs as each time I try to make replies I get that horrible breathless feeling, the pain is still so raw sitting there 24/7 nursing my boy and I collapse into a heap each time, not that I don't read how all the dogs are and shed a tear for the pain they and their owners are going through it is just still a very painful subject for me. There is a very long story as to how this malamute came to me, a very deep and personal one that I still can't talk to people about so when I feel up to it I add a bit to a personal story I am writing about our journey together, I honestly don't know whether I will ever share that with anyone but it is the only way I can pay tribute to an amazing animal who taught me so much and sent me on my journey to play with wolves, I am forever grateful to that dog, he wasn't just a dog he was my special dog.

Well now I am going to wash my face as we are going out for tea shortly and I have those horrible red eyes again. Hugs and kisses to dogs and owners.

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Tyson has gone over to the Bridge only just a couple of hrs ago :crazy: :D

He's battle with Osteosarcoma Is now over.

Run Forever Free Big Boy, Cherished and Never to be Forgotten by all that new him.

Miss you already Ty, till we meet again :cool:

:eek: RottnBullies, :( Sorry for your loss, may your wonderful boy so treasured be in pain no more and be waiting patiently at the bridge for you to be together again.... Bug hugs ;)

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Thank you so much CavNrott, please give Sophie hugs and kisses from us and her daddy. She is so much in our thoughts.

Thanks Kiash. She has lost her typical Ash head, as you can see in my avatar. She's lost muscle but I guess that's to be expected. She still looks beautiful to me and I'll tell her that her daddy sends hugs and kisses.

Allerzeit: Your posts about Sophie always give me confidence. Thank you.

Berty: Cruz and Sophie are littermates. I met Cruz and was he ever full of life as a baby puppy.

Griff: Hugs to you and Sinna. I didn't know she was sick. Getting old sucks...don't I know it. Old Faith has a weak back end too. She has HD and really is a walking health disaster but she feels fine and is a happy, loving old girl. I love the oldies, there's something special about them. Faith would be somewhere around 11 now. I've had her for over a year and both my vets estimated her to be 10 when she came here so she's getting on.

I hope the other sickies are doing ok today. Kiesha, Baylee, Zed, hugs and well wishes from us.

Sophie is having a quiet day but she looks to be feeling ok.

Mr R & NR. The only difficult part is knowing Sophie is unwell and that I'll lose her soon. The drug therapy was a bit confusing at the start. I was petrified I'd mess it up but it all falls into place fairly quickly. I know by the colour or the shape of each drug now what has to be given when. Some are daily, some 2 x twice a day, some every 48 hours. That threw me for a couple of days but I seem to always have the correct number of each tablet left to last until the next oncology visit. I count them often :eek:

I'm doing this for me as well as Sophie. I want her with me for as long as possible and I want her to feel well. If this drug therapy made her feel terrible I would stop immediately. For her to stay with me and be in constant pain or misery is something I would not consider.

I need to do what I'm doing, she deserves every chance she can get. She's a wonderful representative of the breed. Friendly, to man and beast, happy, playful and obedient...it doesn't get better than that. We need more Sophies in the world, not one less.

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Sorry to hear that Tyson is gone R'n'B.. I was hoping that he had more time but unfortunately not :eek:

I was talking to a friend the other day and she came up to see me at work as she had heard that Kiesha was sick...

She recently lost her Nephew to Cancer and as soon as i said what was wrong with Kiesha she said don't worry

Benny is there and he will make sure that he looks after her when she gets there.... :cool:

cavNrott... Kiesha is going ok today, her ears are starting to bother her though and she has been scratching them and shaking her head all day...

Do you know what i can do to stop her from doing this?

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I'm finding it very hard to read this thread.

And yes the tears are falling.

So sorry Rottnbullies.

Cavnrot - please keep us posted on Sophie's progress.

To all others whose babies are unwell - you will be in my thoughts.

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This thread is a great idea!

I can't keep up with the other thread :eek: , so it's kind of nice to have the smaller forums so I can pop in every so often and get the gist of what's going on.

I'm really pleased that there is a support group for those who have sick dogs.

Sorry to hear about Tyson RNB :cool:

And CavNRott I hope Sophie stays with you pain free for some time to come. It's sad to read what she has been through lately.

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cavNrott... Kiesha is going ok today, her ears are starting to bother her though and she has been scratching them and shaking her head all day...

Do you know what i can do to stop her from doing this?

Bluepoppy: It's probably pain that's causing her to scratch her ears and shake. I was told to watch for that with Sophie and give her extra pain relief if I saw her doing it. Might be time to have a talk with your vet about stronger pain meds.

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