"Whiskey"

June 13, 1999 - December 12, 2003

!00% German Rotti with a Golden personality. Whiskey was a 'breed' advocate.

Four years ago my husband and I got an apartment where we could finally have a dog.

The landlord didn't even care what kind. I have always wanted a Rotti. I did a lot of searching at the state shelters and finally after a month I found this beautiful 11 mo. old puppy. We jumped on the opportunity and drove over an hour to meet him. When we got there the shelter staff explained to us that he was a very dominant male. He was originally turned over by his owner to the shelter director because he was now homeless and wanted the best life for Whiskey. Whiskey was soon adopted to a man in the military, his fiance, and 12 yr old daughter. The daughter and fiance were petrified of him because he was a Rotti. I don't know if you are familiar with the Rottweiler breed but they are very talkative. In other words they growl or "talk" a lot. Anyway, one day the daughter was lying on the couch and reached down to pet him and he growled. The fiance and daughter freaked out and made the father take him back believing that he was going to harm the daughter. So the shelter staff told us that he would never be good with kids. I have been around Rotti's and I could tell that he had a soft personality. My husband and I fought all the way home about getting Whiskey. He thought he was a liability and dangerous. But my pleading paid off and two days later I got my puppas.

In the shelter Whiskey was a favorite of the manager. She taught him obedience and agility. He was even their poster child in one of their brochures. At home the first day was great but then night came and he was laying on our bed. Literally taking the whole thing up at 85 lbs. I tried tugging him off and it didn't work. Finally I took a break after fifteen minutes of tug and pull. His ear had flipped back and I reached quickly to right it. He laid his ears back and gave me a "don't you ever do that again" look. I called my husband all freaked out thinking maybe I was wrong. He was extremely upset and did the "I told you so's." I hung up with him and decided enough was enough. I picked up the blankets and dumped Whiskey on the floor. After which he immediately came over to my side of the bed whining and crying and kissing my face.

Initial dominance challenge over... After that, he was my baby.

Whiskey went everywhere with me. When we had Brody, our son, everyone kept asking us how he was going to be. I knew he would be fine. He was always great with our friends kids even after such a harsh judgement by the shelter. True to his temper he was wonderful. He loved Brody. He would spend 20 minutes just kissing his face. We had to stop him from kissing him for a little while because Brody thought that was how you kissed. I turned around one day to see Brody licking Whiskey's tongue back and that was when we had to stop him. Just until Brody learned that was not how to kiss someone. He was always careful not to knock Brody over. I felt so bad for him as Brody started to get bigger. Brody poked him in the eye, shoved his fingers up his gums, pulled his hair, pulled his ears, grabbed his stub, put his finger up his nose, took his food out of his mouth or dish as he ate, and one time I even caught him poking Whisk in the butt with a toy. Yet never once did he growl or snarl viciously. He always did the "oh God, will you leave me alone pleease. Pretty, pretty pleeease." growl.

That's why I knew Thanksgiving night something was wrong. Brody wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed him. Whiskey gave him a kiss back. Brody crawled up on the couch where Whiskey was lying to cuddle up to his chest and give him another hug. Whiskey snarled. I immediately knew there was something serious wrong.

I always wished they hadn't neutered Whiskey at the shelter. At least that way I would have had a piece of him with me by having one of his offspring. I had a breeder in the area who was extremely dismayed as well. Whiskey was the old style German breed. The large muscular body with a large square head. None of this gigantic forehead or triangular face. He was beautiful... He also had the personality that every person he met fell in love with him. My aunt was attacked by a rotti her sister owned so she was extremely scared of Whiskey. But I brought him down all the time and she fell in love with him. She would have him sit, or lay down, or give his paw. She would laugh as he talked to her about how in the beginning she was so afraid of him. She loved him so much that if it weren't for the fact of her mother refusing to come over to her home she would have had a rotti too. But enough of my rambling. I know we all have our memories. It's all we do have left...

Let me give you the rundown of his medical story briefly. Whiskey was a normal and healthy 4 yr old neutered male rotti. He had never had any physical problems except for a broken paw, over-exerted muscle, dandruff, and an allergic reaction to a bug bite. He did injure himself trying to escape from a boarding kennel. It consisted of rubbing the skin off the top of his nose and aggravating his formerly-injured paw. Needless to say he never went back to any boarding kennel.

On July 18, 2003 my husband took him to the vet for his annual vaccinations. The vet recommended the lyme vaccination and proheart 6 moxidectin heartworm vaccination. My husband agreed because the vet told him it was safe. Our dog was scheduled to come back in two weeks for his follow up booster for the lyme vaccination.

On July 29, 2003 my dog was very lethargic, lost control of his bladder often, and was diagnosed w/diabetes. He also had a wiffle ball sized lump on his rump where the lyme vaccination was administered. His BG was 586 at this time. He was prescribed 60 units of Novolin Humulin Insulin twice a day. He was also given his second lyme vaccination in his scruff.

On July 30, 2003 I began administering the insulin.

On July 31, 2003 five minutes before he was due to have his second insulin shot he went into shock. He started to slobber profusely, started growling, and chased his stub in circles. I quickly gave him a large spoonful of Karo and it quieted him back down. I was advised no insulin now but after three days to start administering insulin again at 30 units.

On August 04, 2003 he had developed another wiffle ball sized lump on his neck where the lyme vaccination was issued. He also had a difficult time getting in and out of our vehicle.

On August 05, 2003 my dog's weight is down from almost 130 lbs to 107 lbs. A glucose test was done and it was 481. His insulin was changed to 20 units.

On August 08, 2003 he is sleeping a lot. His BG is 517. The vet upped his insulin to 40 units. His weight is up to 113 though.

On August 12, 2003 his eyelids are drooping and he has quite a bit of discharge. His weight is up again to 116. His BG is 111. His insulin was changed to 30 units.

On August 19, 2003 his eye is still gunky. His glucose is 267. He is down to 115lbs. His insulin was changed to 35 units.

On August 28, 2003 he is up to 116 lbs and his BG is 93. He is back to being playful again. Insulin changed yet again this time to 30 units. He is also on Purina DCO.

On September 12, 2003 he has maintained his weight. His BG is 95. His insulin is reduced to 25 units. He is doing well.

On October 27, 2003 his weight is down to 112. His BG is 78. His insulin is reduced to 20 units.

On November 11, 2003 had run low on DCO so we purchased Eukanuba and mixed the two. His weight is down to 108. His BG is 591. We were advised to continue the 20 units of insulin and purchased another bag of DCO.

On November 28, 2003 he has had diarrhea, dry heaves, is wobbly, has not had insulin since 11/25/03 due to financial constraints, he started dragging his rear paw (it would flip over kind of like an animal with a neurological problem), he didn't eat for a day, his eye was discharging a greenish mucus that covered his eye so much to the point he could not see, he growled at my son for leaning on his chest (something he never did), and was having trouble breathing. His weight is down to 105. His BG is 506.6. His ketones are at 160. An abdominal x-ray revealed his intestinal lining was thicker than normal, he had a mass that the vet was unsure of if it was food or not, and his pancreas was slightly enlarged. Insulin upped to 40 units again.

On November 29, 2003 he is having an even harder time getting around. He is more wobbly and his feet slide out under him when he is trying to eat or drink. He is very warm. Insulin changed to 35 units and that he was to be given anything he would eat.

On December 01, 2003 he had not eaten this morning. He is panting very heavily. A couple of aspirin were given to him and his fever went down. He has to be coaxed into eating. His panting is constant. Fort Dodge agrees to pay for specialist visit. They did not feel that it was an allergic reaction but were willing to fund the referral for diagnosis. My vet spoke with the specialist who said it didn't sound like a reaction to Proheart 6 but an appointment was set.

On December 04, 2003 at 10:30 a.m. my husband took him down to Dr. Sobel the specialist. Nothing was noted on his breathing at the end other than "that's nice to know." A half sheet of paper was given to my husband which read as follows:

“Today’s examination revealed a diffuse nodular disease of the pancreas. A biopsy would be indicated to determine the specific nature of the findings but as we discussed, given Whiskey's diabetes, management of any of these problems will be difficult and likely frustrating. Please let me know if there are any questions or concerns."

Diffuse nodular disease, basically bumps throughout the pancreas, possibly cancerous or benign but only a $1,200 biopsy can determine that. He was also informed that the pancreas was no longer producing insulin or digestive enzymes. At this point Whiskey was eating puppy food and having hard poops. Impossible with that kind of a prognosis. I also bought human testing strips for ketones and glucose. For the next three days I tested him twice a day. Each day the ketone readings came back negative and the glucose readings came back normal. I was told that it was probably a false reading since the strips are meant for humans.

December 11, 2003 I brought my dog to another vet for a third opinion. He was down to 100 lbs even. He looked like skin and bones except for his large distended chest. His breathing was extremely labored. He would stand in a GSD show stance just to breath. He had no food that morning but did have an insulin injection. He had another ultrasound which showed that his pancreas was functioning normally. There was no evidence of diffuse nodule disease. They did a glucose curve.

8:00 BG 43

11:35 BG 105

2:45 BG 66

5:00 BG 98

7:00 BG 86

After his last blood test he finally ate one can of dog food. They did x-rays which showed loops on and around his lungs. They gave him barium thinking that maybe it was a diaphragmatic hernia. It came back not revealing anything that was glowing in his intestines. Nor did the loops glow. They thought that if he did not have the herniation he might have a severe bout of pneumonia. He seemed very lightheaded as well and almost lost his balance. They gave me amoxicillin for him and told me that they believed that even though there was no glowing on the x-rays that he did in fact have a herniated diaphragm. The amoxicillin was just in case it was pneumonia. I made an appointment for 10 a.m. the next day. My dog had one month left before the Proheart 6 cleared out of his system. But he didn't make it.

Whiskey lost his battle at 2 a.m. I woke up and found him dead by our bed.

December 12, 2002 his body was brought down to Northside again to perform the autopsy. They found all his organs to be in normal healthy condition except for thick, dark red spots on his lungs. The vet had never seen anything like this. There was also no sign of water around his lungs. In her words there was no explanation for his death according to his organs except these spots. The head vet came back the next week from his training seminar and advised that the x-rays showed pneumonia. He explained the spots were from calcification of the lungs due to such a sever bout of pneumonia. But there was no water so how that is possible I don't know.

1.) Sections of lung which are characterized by dffuse dilatation and congestion pulmonary arteries, veins, and alveolar capillaries. Many alveoli contain small to moderate amounts of lightly eosinophilic fluid in their lumens. There are no significant inflammatory cell infiltrates, obvious neoplastic cells, or infectious organisms in any of these sections.

2.) Sections of pleura are examined. There is diffuse hypertrophy and hyperplasia of mesothelial cells resulting in formation of papillae. There is a moderate diffuse infiltrate of lymphocytes, plasma cells, macrophages, and neutrophils in subserosal connective tissue. There also is diffuse angioplasia and congestion of blood vessels. No neoplasia or infetious organisms are seen.

3.) Sections of liver characterized by moderate diffuse swelling of hepatocytes. Swelling is due to cytoplasmic granulization and occasionally microvacuolization. There are minimal multifocal periportal infiltrates of lymphocytes. No neoplasia or infectious organisms are seen.

4.) Sections of spleen which are histologically unremarkable except for diffuse congestion. There are no significant inflammatory cell infiltrates, obvious neoplastic cells or infectious organisms in any of thes sections.

5.) Section of pancreas which are histologically unremarkable except for diffuse congestion. There are no significant inflammatory cell infiltrates, obvious neoplastic cells or infetious organisms in any of these sections.

6.) Sections of kidney which are histologically unremarkable except for diffuse congestion. There are no significant inflammatory cell infiltrates, obvious neoplastic cells or infectious organisms in any of these sections.

1.) Mild to moderate, diffuse, acute pulmonary congestion and edema

2.) Moderate, diffuse, chronic, proliferative pleuritis

3.) Moderate, diffuse hepatocellular degeneration

4.) No significant lesions kidney, spleen, pancreas

Pulonary edema is a nospecific finding which is seen preterminally in a variety of disease syndromes including shock, endotoxemia, uremia, and acute heart failure.

No neoplasia or infectious organisms are seen in the pleural specimen. I usually see lesions of this nature as a response to chronic pleural effusion.

The changes in the liver are consistent with "reactive hepatopathy" which is a nonspecific reaction by hepatocytes that is common to a variety of mild metabolic abnormalities. Uremia, hyperadrenalcorticism, diabetes mellitus, intestinal disease and prolonged anorexia can cause these changes.