Birthday Girl

We just celebrated Addie's 13th birthday this past October 30th. To commemerate the occasion we took her and Finigan on a flat, 5 mile hike near Palmer Lake. She did so well that we took them on a shorter hike Sunday. She seemed to enjoy herself quite a bit on both days.

Her vestibular issues still remain. She is not as sure footed as she used to be - especially when she gets excited. Her head tilt is still present but it does seem to be getting marginally less noticeable.

She is truly a remarkable dog. We hope to post another birthday message next year but if that doesn't happen we know that we have been very fortunate to have her in our lives nonetheless. We simply try to cherish each day we are given with her and hope that her final months and years with us are as enjoyable to her as they are to us.

Happy Birthday sweet girl.

September 2010 Update

Addie playing with a stick with Grandma and Grandpa Key watching out for her.


We appreciate everyone's kind words, support, and suggestions regarding Addie and her post-vestibular experiences. We did wish to update everyone as to her status.

Since our last posting, Addie has now gone back to her old eating habits. Our holistic vet recommend putting her on bio-sponge which helps to sooth her GI tract. This combined with time I think, has her eating liker her old self. She now eats 90% of her meals in one sitting with no issues. We tried the raised bowls, but that just freaked her out too, so she is back to her normal bowl on the floor routine. She definitely is a creature of habit and does not like change! We are very happy that she is eating normally and no issues with the neoplasene.

As to her physical side, her head still tilts most of the time - especially when she is tired. She also is not as stable as she used to be on her legs. She falls down much more often than prior, but Addie seems to be adapting well enough to it. She will be walking along, fall down, and act as if she meant to do that. She is resilient!

We don't push her on hikes and such, but do take her out on shorter jaunts in the woods. She still loves going for rides and for hikes, but does wear out much sooner than before. But that's ok, we just slow down and enjoy nature and go back when she is ready.

The past 2 weeks she has had some really good days. Two weekends ago we were out on the mountain side taking down some dead trees and she played with her tennis ball going up and down the mountain for hours. We had to drag her back in when we were done! We did take her and Finigan to the pond this past weekend, but she no longer trusts herself to swim, so she just played on the edge of the water with her stick. It amazes me how she just knows that she should not try to swim.

She definitely has great days and some "ok" days, but the good days far outweigh the no-so-good ones. I wouldn't say she has any "bad" days really. Some days she seems more tired, and sleeps mostly, but she still has that sparkle in her eye, so I know she is still enjoying life. And when she can still go over and take away a toy from Finigan the pup, I know she still has it! :-)

12 Days Post Vestibular Diagnosis

It has been 12 days since Addie was diagnosed with Vestibular Disease. She has improved greatly. Her head tilt is less (though still existent), and she is stronger, more confident walking. She actually jogged a little when we let her out this morning. OK, just for a short distance, but she still had a little pep in her step. She still can't turn around very tightly and falls occasionally, but is getting better. Stairs are no longer her nemesis.

The one thing that is bothering me though is her lack of eating. She was a very strong eater previously - would eat without question. Now, it is a fight to get her to eat. Over the past few days, we have to take one meal and spread it out over 2 or 3 sittings. This morning, it looked like she was hungry (she was drooling as she waited), but only took 2-3 bites before she walked away. I tried to hand feed her, but she only took about 2 of those. We did add the Neoplasene back into her food on Sunday. So not sure if that is the issue or not. As mentioned, she used to eat her Neo-food without question.

We are going to get her a raised bowl stand later today to see if that helps. We have read that having their food on the floor can make them nauseous. We have tried putting her bowl on a box, but that seems to freak her out, so hopefully the stand will work. I really hope she does not become a finicky eater with her recovery. I know the neoplasene is horrible tasting but we were very spoiled by her apparent liking of it in the first two years.

Addie Update

Unfortunately, I had to be out of town for a few days and was not able to help Rob take care of Addie. But he did a great job getting her to eat, stopping the diarrhea, and keeping her safe from running into furniture and falling down stairs.

I am amazed how much better she is today than she was on Saturday. She is eating her full amount of food (since it is still hard for her to navigate her head into the bowl we are holding it up for her). Her bowel also seems to have returned to normal. Although very wobbly, she is walking on her own and managing stairs (we are right there to catch her as needed). She even decided to friskily walk down to the neighbors this morning as she used to do every morning prior to the onset of the vestibular disease. She is wagging her tail and not sleeping as much.

She still has the head tilt though. I've read that this may not go away. We are hoping that by massaging her neck and shoulders (which does seem to help) that it will eventually get better.

Our main vet has retired but his replacement was very helpful to Rob in the first few days trying to figure out how to clear up the diarrhea and any interference issues with the Neoplasene. Our holistic vet was out sick, so she even called Dr. Fox (the creator of Neoplasene) to see if she could do any more. We took her off of the Neoplasene to help her digestive tract heal. We will resume giving it to her at the end of this coming weekend. We aren't very worried about her being off of it since her chest x-rays came back so clean during the emergency visit last Friday night.

She is amazing in how she keeps fighting whatever is thrown at her. She is quite the inspiration.

Setback

The day after our last post Addie experienced a frightening episode. Friday evening right before bedtime, Addie was not able to stand up, her eyes were twitching back and forth horizontally, and her head was tilted in an odd fashion. Our first thought was a seizure possibly caused by a cancerous tumor that had spread to her brain.

We scrambled to get her to the emergency vet some 30-40 minutes away. Once we were there they examined her and told us there was a very good chance that she had experienced canine vestibular syndrome. The cause behind this syndrome is unknown. The only thing the emergency vet could tell us was that the symptoms were consistent with Addie's symptoms and that there was a very good chance she would recover from this episode although maybe not fully.

Since Friday night the eye twitching symptom is almost gone and she is able to walk on her own although she is quite wobbly. Her appetite has not returned (we have read that many dogs refuse to eat because the extreme vertigo they experience makes them very nauseous). So far she has eaten about half of what she would normally eat in a given day. We had to administer water with a syringe the first day but she has begun to drink on her own again.

We are not out of the woods yet. There is still a possibility of a tumor or (even less likely) that she suffered from a stroke. If her recovery does not continue we will take her back for more examination.

She has not been able to sleep very peacefully for the past two nights but this could be because she has had stomach and diarrhea issues since Saturday afternoon. We have given her a small amount of bismuth subsalicylate (pepto bismol tablet) which has seemed to help and has hardened her stool somewhat. She is sleeping here in my office on her side which she has not been able to do since the episode.

One good thing to report: the emergency vet was briefed on the hemangiosarcoma and our holistic approach to her care. Typically, a chest x-ray would not have been considered but the vet recommended we do so due to the cancer history. The x-rays came back negative. Her internal organs look clear - especially her lungs. This means that cancer is even less likely the culprit.

More to come as things develop.

2 Year Anniversary Post Diagnosis!!

Addie and Finigan waiting on Addie's Anniversary special treat

Addie enjoying a ride in the country

A beautiful summer hike through the flowers

Camping trip with Pikes Peak as a backdrop

When this past July 15 was finished, Addie had managed to live 24 months beyond the date she was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma. Not too bad given that she was not expected to make it past the 4-8 week time frame.

How much more we can expect from our 12-1/2 year old baby is unknown but we are thankful for every day she stays with us.

The remarkable thing is that over the summer she has not had any issues. She has been active, playful, and warm paws all around.

Happy Anniversary Addie!

Overdue Update

Yes, it has been a long while since the last post.

May was packed with travel - we took a week long vacation to the Caribbean and shortly after returning home we went back to Indiana to watch the Indy 500 and visit with family.

Addie and Finigan have seen more than their fair share of the kennel over those past few weeks.

Now that mud season is mostly over and things are drying out we have been able to take a few hikes. Most recently we tackled a couple of 11,000+ foot peaks near the Tarryall Reservoir. It was a tough off trail hike. There was lots of dead-fall and steep terrain which made it pretty demanding. Addie was terribly tired at the end of the day but she made it nonetheless. We estimated that we traveled somewhere between 7-8 miles that day - mostly up and down hill - both of which are strenuous.

Finigan still has issues with aggressive behavior even though we have worked with him extensively with two separate trainers. This past weekend we took a short easy hike on a well traveled trail. There are bikers, hikers, and joggers on the trail and it is fairly busy on the weekend. For whatever reason, Addie loves to bark at bikers. She doesn't ever act aggressive or chase she just loves to bark at them...well, Finigan thinks that because Addie is barking that the biker must be a threat. So, he runs up to them and barks aggressively with hair raised and teeth bared. We are worried that he might cross the line at some point. After that incident one of us hiked ahead and prepped anyone coming down the trail with a treat. Having everyone he met on the trail give him a treat seemed to help. No more aggressive behavior towards anyone for the rest of the hike - even bikers.

He is a work in progress. Just hope we can fix this problem - I hate having the dog that people are scared of on the trail...not cool.

Addie is doing the same. She is certainly geriatric. Not much running and lots of sleeping. On a positive note, the eye drops we are giving her seem to be helping. Just the other day she spotted a black bear behind our house in a steady drizzle. Of course the barking symphony that ensued was annoying but we were both surprised that she could see well enough to pick the bear out in the drizzle. Her hearing, on the other hand, is getting worse. Nothing we can do about that. I'm sure the bones in her ears are hardening just like what happens to people as they age. In four months she will be 13 years old. We think she is doing pretty darned good for her age. It is hard to believe she has been with us for so long.

Could Rottweilers be the key to a Cancer Cure?

This story was on Good Morning America this past weekend:

Click Here To View Video


In short, a veterinarian from Purdue University is traveling around the US doing research on rottweilers and what relationship there may be to them, old age, and avoiding cancer. Interesting at the end, they mention that they tested some deceased rotties and noticed that they actually had cancer and just "powered" through it.

It makes me wonder if that is why Addie is still with us.. she just won't accept the cancer and is just powering through it.

Another milestone

According to Dr. Friedly's office, Addie is currently his longest living hemangiosarcoma patient. Of course, we like to think that this is possible because of the utilization of Buck Mountain Botanical's Neoplasene and the other changes we have made to her diet. Regardless, we are quite happy that she is still with us and hope she continues to 'break the record'.

Addie has even captured the attention of Dr. Fox at Buck Mountain due to his communication with Dr. Friedly.

We would like to say a big thank you to both doctors for their roles in Addie's treatment. Without either of them things would have surely been much different.

Addie and Finigan have both been scratching like crazy for the past several weeks. Actually, Finigan has beeen scratching and biting pretty much since the day we brought him home from the shelter. Initially, we thought it was a food allergy. We have tried several different types of food (including a vegetarian food) all with no success. Frustrated, we took Finigan to our traditional vet, Dr. Wasinger, and had a skin test performed to see if we could find any sort of an allergy issue. The results came back negative. So, the next most likely cause is an infestation of some sort. Fleas are easily ruled out (living at 9000 feet above sea level is not conducive to insects in general and there are zero signs of fleas on either dog). Microscopic mites, however, are a possibility.

Due to potential adverse reactions with Neoplasene we did not want to put Addie on the commonly prescribed drug for dealing with these types of parasites, selamectin (sold as Revolution). Because of this, Dr. Wasinger consulted with Dr. Friedly and it was decided to use another Buck Mountain product. This product is a dust that gets applied to the skin three times over three weeks. We are on the second treatment and there does not seem to be any change. Hopefully things will improve after the next treatment.

We have gone to great lengths to fix this problem (including installing a high cost furnace filter, hiring a company to clean and sanitize the duct work in the house, and treating the carpets with a mite killing powder). So far to no avail. If anyone has had experience with this type of problem we would love to hear from you.

On another note, we have noticed for the past year or two that Addies' eyes are becoming increasingly cloudy. After doing some research we found a product that has shown some success with canine cataracts. It is basically a drop that contains N-Acetyl Carnosine which is a naturally occurring di-peptide. This naturally occurring substance has shown promise in causing cataract tissue to dissolve and thereby clear up vision of the affected patient without surgery. (This product has also been used on humans with the same positive results). We are about one month into this regimen. The only drawback to using these drops is that it can take 3-6 months for improvement. We hope it will make a positive difference for Addie. Her hearing is not that great anymore so we would like to help keep her vision as sharp as possible.

She still loves chasing her tennis balls around and has taught Finigan the finer aspects of fetching along the way. It's great to see both of them playing together. Once the weather warms up a bit we will be able to get them outside more to help alleviate their winter boredom.

18 Month Milestone!

This is a retro picture of Addie from many years ago. She was about to get a bath and was not very happy :-(



We are celebrating, Addie has made it 18 months post diagnosis! She was only given 8-10 weeks in July, 2008 and she is still here to receive our kisses every day. We could not be happier!

She has had a rough time of it these past few weeks. About 3 weeks ago, she was playing with Finigan and slipped on the ice and injured her back right hip. After a week, she was getting better, and then she re injured it. The weird thing was the next morning, she was then favoring her front left leg. Then that started getting better, then yesterday worse.

Being the worried parent, I was also concerned about her fur being very dry, and her shedding terribly even though it is winter. Also, we found 2 additional lumps within her abdomen. So, we made an appointment with her holistic vet - Dr. Friedly to have her checked out. He believes that the issue with her legs is that she was putting too much weight on the front leg to support the back leg and then she ended up injuring the front. He also believes the 2 lumps to just be the standard fatty kind she often develops. It is sad to see her slowing down and having issues. I hope the legs are not giving out due to the cancer, but it is tough seeing her age so much as well. She is almost 11 1/2, and at 70#, she is definitely experiencing her age. But we do all we can to make her comfortable and loved every day.

Right now, she is curled up at my feet snoring :-)

January 2010 Update

Happy New Year everyone!

2009 held many challenges and sad days for us but we look forward to a very happy 2010.

This year for Christmas, we headed back to Indiana to spend time with family. That meant that Addie and Finigan headed off to be boarded for a few days. It is a fairly quiet place so Addie enjoys that much more than the loud kennels she used to attend. Richard is great with them both and works with Addie and her special meals.

For the past 11 years we have debated about what other breed(s) of dog are in Addie's DNA. We know her mother was a full blooded Rottweiler but know nothing about the father. I always thought Labrador because she loves to retrieve, swim, and has webbed feet. Rob has always thought fox hound because of the shape of her hind-quarters. For Christmas, I got Rob (and me) the gift of knowing. I had Addie's DNA tested. And the results are....

Significant Rottweiler (as we already knew) and minor (very minor amounts detected with low confidence) - Cairn Terrier (AKA Toto!). That was quite the shock. We think that her dad must have been mostly Rottweiler as well and the Terrier is just somewhere down the line. Although these results were not at all what we expected it was still fun to find out.

Addie has not been doing as well as usual this past week. She has had bouts of cold paws, has been shaking, and last Saturday she fell and injured her back leg. No broken bones but we think she sprained something by falling on the ice. She is able to walk but does not put a lot of pressure on that leg. We are hoping now that the holidays are over she will get settled back into her routine and will come back around to feeling better.