Posted
01-09-04
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Health Stats: OFA & GDC Good, OFA Elbows Normal, OFA Cardiac Clear - Cardiologist, OFA Thyroid Normal, vWD-, Addison's-, Cushing's-, CERF
I wish so desperately that she would have been with us longer.
Her love was children. She would protect them all whether they were part of our family or not.
God help the adult who tried to physically discipline a child in front of her.
She would crawl into a childs lap and cover them daring someone to proceed any further with that nonsense.
She was a true Rottweiler through and through. Her children have inherited many of her strengths in character along with her fondness of children. She was a wonderful Mother and "Babysitter" who would steal other animals babies to care for if given the chance.
After that, she would have flare ups which would cause her to limp or have very restricted drive from the rear. We did attempt to show her in the begining, but it seemed like all that had to happen was entries close and sure enough 3 days before the show or less, she would come up lame. It got very frustrating paying for entries to shows for nothing not to mention handler fees that were unrefundable because of short notice cancelations.
I entered her a few times here and there after that and sometimes we made it, and sometimes we didn't. But I stopped reserving my handler to show her <G>
Devon managed to produce some lovely puppies. We are thrilled with what so many of them have accomplished so far. Her youngest litter will be 2 years old in February of 2003 and her oldest litter will be 5 years old in July 2003.
Devon was a once in a lifetime dog. She was my heart dog and I miss her terribly.
Left to right: Devon, Deuce, Dyna & Diamond
I make a habit of checking for lumps and bumps but this was not an obvious lump or bump :-( Devon went off of her feed a bit. She had come into season so that wasn't unusual. I did the normal, dog standing, me searching abdomen for things that shouldn't "be there" and felt nothing.
She became lethargic one morning and I KNEW something more was wrong than just being off due to her season.
I pulled my hands back. I then tried to find it again. Hoping beyond hope that I was wrong. That I hadn't felt what I thought I felt. That worry had clouded my recollection of that part of her anatomy.
It hadn't. As I felt my fingers lock around that mass once again I knew what it was I was feeling.
I tried to keep myself calm by offering up, it could be an obstruction! Yes, that's what it could be! She finally up and ate one of those damn tennis balls! Sure! That could be it! Off we were to the vet for what I was now trying to convince myself was an obstructed bowel from an eaten tennis ball. I went driving along thinking of the discussion the kids and I were going to have when they got home from school about "how many times have I told you guys NOT to leave tennis balls within reach of the dogs when we aren't there to supervise?" Yep, those kids and I were going to have a LONG talk about that! Easy enough, go in and have the vet remove said tennis ball stitch up my wonderful girl and home we would go to recoup.
I walked in to the vet's office with my girl and with myself firmly "convinced" that all we needed was a "quick" emergency surgery to remove a tennis ball. At this point I was actually doing pretty well at keeping that annoying little voice in the back of my head quiet. You know, the one that kept saying "Come on now, you KNOW that's not it. It's in the wrong place for that, it's the wrong "feel" for that, it's all WRONG for that!"
Into the exam room we went. When my vet came in I explained to him what was going on and he attempted to find the mass. When he was unable to find it (Devon was standing up) I was ready to breathe a giant sigh of relief. My vet asked me to look again for it and see if I could show him where it was. So with Devon still standing I went on the "hunt" for the elusive mass. I couldn't find it. Then it dawned on me... I had been palpating this dog for nearly 5 days and never felt this mass. Everytime I had done it though the dog had been standing. This morning, when I found this mass, Devon had been laying down and I hadn't made her get up.
With a new found sickness swelling in my stomach, I lay Devon down on the floor, and once again worked my fingers underneath her ribcage gently palpating as I went. And there it was. Just as plain as day, there it was. I took my vets hand and slowly replaced my hand and fingers with his. Once there, the look on his face said everything I needed to know. Without a word I knew my dog was dying.
I don't think I ever truly understood how quickly Cancer kills until this happened. Devon had produced a lovely healthy litter just 6 months before. I always have an x-ray done 3 days pre whelping to do a count. We had the assistant dig up that film while we took another of Devon's abdomen then.
In the exam room we put the puppy count film up and everything was clear as a bell other than the skeletons of 8 little puppies. The assistant came in with the new film which we put next to the older film. Instead of puppy skeletons there was now a sizable white cloudy area. The tumor. The knowledge that this tumor didn't exist 6 months ago and was now killing my dog hit me like a ton of bricks. How can it possibly grow that fast?? How???
The next morning Devon had surgery to see if removing it would be of any help. The vet removed more than 1/2 of her liver and was still unable to remove all of the tumor. Her liver was split in places by the tumor and she had apparently been bleeding internally for sometime. Devon had been enduring tremendous pain and showed no signs of it until 5 days before our vet visit. She was gone 3 weeks to the day of the initial diagnoses.
Her loss was so sudden and unexpected that even now I find it hard to believe she is gone. I see little bits of her in her children. With them, I hope to show what an amazing dog Devon really was.
A true to character Rottweiler through and through.
My dog, my protector, my best friend.
Just taking a tour of our website you will find some of the many accomplishments acheived so far by her kids. And they aren't done yet! :-)
We are grateful to those who have helped us to show Devon's worth as a brood bitch.
Devon is now only 2 points away from her ARC Bronze Producer Award!!!! We hope to get her there and with any luck, beyond!
