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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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To raise money to fund critical research into the genetic, communicable and acquired diseases that plague our beloved breed, the Rottweiler. |
Our
Rottweiler Austin - Dealing with Cancer
submitted by Loriann Sandy of Langley, BC on August 8, 2009
I purchased my son's
Rottweiler thru a pure fluke, my sister and I where getting tattoos for her 30th birthday. We had mentioned to the couple who owned the tattoo
parlor about my son's dog Beau who had recently gotten killed by a car. My son spent several thousand dollars trying to save him as his hips had been badly crushed and the vet said the kindest thing to do would be to put him to sleep.
Shortly thereafter, I bought my son another Rottweiler puppy, who he named Austin. My son and I bought a house together back in 2002 when Austin was only 3 years old. I decided to purchase a female Rottweiler for myself. Sarah became Austin's constant companion. He had a great life, lot of walks and car rides, camping trips, with a big back yard and everyone loved him.
We took him to the vet for regular check ups and shots. We had put him on a diet because his weight got up to 155 lbs. But then a few months later we noticed that he was losing more weight than he should, so we put him on a different diet. We also noticed he had lumps you could feel on his body, but the vet said it was nothing to worry about. Then he continued to lose weight and was down to 120 pounds.
We took him back to the vet and had him run several tests and do an ultra sound. We didn't care what it cost - we wanted to know what was wrong. We really weren't given an answer as to what was wrong with Austin, but the vet gave us steroids to give to him. This went on and off for over a year. Austin was 8 years old when this all started. We switched vets and they ran additional tests and found out that the steroids where not helping him - but possibly doing him some harm. He was given pills to increase his appetite and additional tests were run. The tests revealed that he had cancer of his intestine.
The vet was surprised that he had lived this long. She told us to come and see her in a week, I think she knew that he would not make the week. We gave him extra love and attention as we knew our best friend would not be around for long. Sarah also knew something was wrong with her Austin. He would not eat the special meals, or rather he would eat them and then go outside and throw up.
We knew it was time, the next morning my son came down to my room and said he was taking him to the vet. I gave Austin a big hug and kiss cause I knew he wouldn't be coming back. My son held his dog while he was put to sleep and his girlfriend took lots of pictures at the end. We will always love him and still miss him - he's only been gone a little over 3 months and the pain of losing him is still there.
We have gotten another Rottweiler, Denali, but he will never replace the Austin that we lost. We had Austin cremated and have his ashes on the mantle along side of Beau, with many pictures and scrapbooks to remind us of him. That is my story.
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Rottweiler
Health Foundation Mission Statement
