Rowdy Roddy Piper's Page

Weight: 140
Breed: Rottweiler
Age when diagnosed: 6

Tumors:

CROSSING BRIDGES
Rowdy Roddy Piper
9/27/97 - 9/2/04
Roddy was around 3 years old when he wound up at our shelter. His "daddy" went to jail and there was no one to take care of him. At the time, he weighed 118 lbs....thin for a dog who measured 29" at the withers. His profile said "loves to play football, great with kids, afraid of cats and thunder".

My S.O. Craig is an electrical contractor, and donates his services to the shelter. So on several occasions (all of which resulted in another Rottie in the house), he would see the dogs and either just
bring them home, or at least warn me in advance. He came home one day and announced that we were getting Roddy, whom I had not yet met. He also announced his official name would be Rowdy Roddy Piper (whom I had also never heard of)....so I decided I should at least go and meet the boy.
What a charmer....even though he was thin, and his fur was dull, there was such life in his face. A mastiff face if you ask me. He sure had mastiff teeth....several of which were bad. Ectropion worse on one eye, but a nubby tail that wouldn't quit. He slobbered and drooled, and when the slobber dried, it looked like glitter (so from then on I called it "glitter slobber").

At the time we already had 5 other dogs: Our precious beloved Doberman (Tosca), our first Rottie (Maxine), our second Rottie (Hessa - to whom all other dogs in the universe are compared, and usually fall short), our third Rottie (Shayna) and our then-senior and now-ancient Golden Retriever mix (Trooper). So, the easiest way to see if everyone would get along would be to take the dogs to the shelter....all five of them. This required three cars: one with no dogs to transport Roddy back if
everything went well, and two other vehicles: one with two dogs and the other with three. So Craig drives down alone in the Jeep Wrangler, which did not have a back seat. On the way I stopped at McDonalds for a dozen plain cheeseburgers....figuring food will make everyone smell the same and feel more comfortable.
Our shelter has a big fenced in park area in the back so all the dogs could be off leash....we brought Roddy out and started handing out cheeseburgers and everything went well, so we put Roddy in the back of the Jeep Wrangler, and my friend and I loaded up the other dogs in the two cars and we drove home. Craig is in front, and we no sooner leave the shelter when Roddy has climbed into the front seat and starts licking Craig's face, which he proceeded to do all the way home. I guess he knew?

Roddy was a goofy boy - for the most part he got along well with everyone. He fit right in, shuffling down the hallway at his leisure.
His big thing was toys, toys, toys. The more the merrier. He would stick his face in the toy box and come up with a mouthful.....literally.
He would sleep belly up when on the floor, or he would lay his back up against mine, when on the bed. It felt really good on my back, because he would lay down with his head on my pillow.
Of course he snored, and when he and my Dobie were in the same room together.....look out !
He gradually gained weight, and looked very proper. Drooly face and all. And he did love to play football. Problem is all the football toys we bought him would be de-squeaked and de-stuffed within minutes. He liked to clean Maxine's ears (she who will be obeyed) and made a mess of it, but I have to admit, Maxine's ears were clean all the time. He had surgery for his eyes but there was no fixing his teeth.

He loved Porsche...especially when she was a puppy. Porsche was raised by Hessa and Roddy...she was very well behaved around Hessa but she would pummel Roddy on the floor, grab hold of his jowls, and tug away, and my boy Roddy would just take it all in stride. She loved him though and she enjoyed just laying next to him. He was so unassuming, so grateful to just be loved....he would sit next to me while I was at the computer and put his head under my arm so my mouse would get all messed up and I would have to stop and pet him....which I did gladly.
On November 10, 2003 my dog-walker left me a note saying that Roddy was limping. Knowing that he had bad hips, I assumed he had hurt himself. But when I looked at his right ankle, my heart sank, as the deformed bone felt warm in my hand. How could I not see this had happened? We saw the vet the next day, who confirmed the diagnosis with xrays. We had initially planned on going for the amputation right away, but we changed our minds, opting instead for conservative treatment with change in diet, artemisinin, piroxicam and supplements. We enrolled in the Pain Management study at the University of Pennsylvania, where Roddy received a spinal injection of a pain killer called resiniferatoxin, which deadened the nerves that relayed the pain of bone cancer to his brain.
He did well with this regimen, and did not appear to be in any pain. He continued to shuffle around at a comfortable pace, with a good appetite, good energy level and sound sleep, At one point I thought the bone cancer had actually decreased a bit in size. On February 16, 2004 he fractured through the cancerous bone, and we applied a cast which we changed every week. On March 8, 2004 his paw swelled up and the cast was removed, not to be applied again. The tumor had grown and was stretching his skin to a point where he developed breakdown.

We did chest xrays which were clear, and on March 17, 2004 he underwent amputation of his right rear leg. There was a lot of life and love left in him. We had some problems with wound healing and infection, and on April 14, 2004 he underwent a revision surgery to remove the residual femur stump that was left from the first surgery. The wound healed very well and with clear lung xrays, we proceeded with chemotherapy: cisplatin and adriamycin. He started swimming at a local physical therapy facility, to strengthen his limbs. He loved the water !!! He had a stuffed alligator that he would fetch time and time again, until eventually the alligator needed surgery to stay afloat. We continued the artemisinin, low carb diet, supplements but we stopped the piroxicam after he developed an anemia from slow GI blood loss. In July we discovered small lung mets, after two cycles of each chemotherapy drug. We stopped the chemo and started Rimadyl, continuing our other regimen.

During the summer of 2004, Roddy got his Canine Good Citizen title, and his Therapy Dog title. He had a cart which he loved, and went for long walks around the neighborhood several times a week with his girlfriend, a Golden Retriever named Chelsea, who also had bone cancer.
He swam at the lake during the summer. He visited patients at the Rehabilitation Hospital, in his cart, showing people how to overcome their challenges and have fun on wheels!

On September 1, 2004 Roddy went swimming for the last time. He was short of breath and could not exercise or walk very far. The next day we discovered there was fluid from the spread of cancer surrounding his lungs, restricting the air that he tried to breathe in. So he had chocolate ice cream, went for a car ride (which he loved) and laid down on a soft comforter next to me for the last time. He crossed his final bridge on September 2, 2004.

Pictures

his official portrait his official portrait his best event his best event getting ready to swim getting ready to swim such a cool dude! such a cool dude!