Black Bart's Page

Weight: 125
Breed: Rhodesian Ridgeback
Age when diagnosed: 1

Tumors:

Black Bart
Born 12/14/04

Black Bart is our very special Rhodesian Ridgeback boy. He’s been a handful from day one and I fully expect that to continue as long as he’s with us!

My son’s have had their other dog, Shadey, since before either can remember; she’s a rescue from the local shelter and is getting up there in years. We wanted to bring another dog into our home for her and for us, knowing full well that she won’t be with us forever.

We researched long and hard what type of dog we wanted and decided that a Ridgeback would fit well with our family. They are beautiful, quiet (supposedly) - except when necessary, loving, loyal, and protective among other qualities.

We found a relatively local breeder who just happened to have a 4 week old litter that included 8 pups, 3 of which were ‘ridgeless’ and therefore ‘pet quality’ as opposed to show dogs. We all took a trip to meet them. We spent a couple hours holding and cuddling them and starting the discussion of which one was right for us. Of the eight, Black Bart was the biggest, and there was something about him from the start. After much discussion, and a few more visits, we decided his home would be with us.

In case you were wondering the name came from the breeders. Each of the eight dogs had their own colored ribbon around their neck, Bart’s was black (of course) and he was the only one they called by a name…Black Bart. The rest were simply Red, Yellow, etc… I told you he was special. Well nothing else seemed to fit, and the name stuck.

Since he came home he has been a challenge and a joy. He broke a toe after a jump out the car window (not the same leg as the cancer), had an allergic reaction to a vaccination, has had food allergies, ear infections, you name it. We joked that we should invest in pet insurance-never did-no joke now! He’s also managed to get away with a lot more than our other dog. She is way too dignified to even THINK about jumping on the couch, he on the other hand thinks he owns it. His charm manages to give him extra allowances.

He’s still puppy in many respects, loves to greet people with kisses, which can be a bit much since he’s so tall it puts him at eye level when he jumps up on you. And shoes and small electronics are still not guaranteed to be where you left them or to be intact if you forget to keep them out of his reach.
One of Bart’s favorite things is to go to the Dog Park on weekends and play with his pals. Everyone loves big Bart. Well, one weekend he was playing rough with another young dog and he came up a little lame. We watched him for a week or two, he favored it off and on, but it seemed to resolve. We went back to the park and Bart again came up lame. This time I noticed ‘swelling’.

Two days later, Monday October 23rd, I took him to the vet to get it checked out. That was the first time I heard of Bone Cancer in dogs, and OS. Even the vet seemed surprised by what he found on the x-rays due to Bart’s young age (22 months). We tested for tick related diseases to try to explain his swollen lymph nodes, possible fungal infection, and of course x-rayed his lungs to see if it had spread if it was in fact cancer. His lungs were clear, no tick disorders, and three days later no sign of fungus, a radiologist had looked and concurred that it was most likely cancer.
Thursday October 26th my husband and I met with our new Oncologist as well as our soon to be surgeon to discuss our options. By this time we’d read many online articles and I had even joined Bone Cancer Dogs, but only as an observer (since I didn’t have a diagnosis yet). Clearly things seemed bleak to say the least. The statistics are overwhelming. We left there weighing the options between radiation and chemotherapy and amputation and chemotherapy. And decided it was time to talk to our boys (ages 12 & 8).

Since Bart is so young and the cancer seemed to be so aggressive, we opted to try and give him every chance we can for survival. To me that meant amputation and chemotherapy. Outside of this small limp he seemed so healthy and full of life the idea of saying goodbye to him anytime soon (16 weeks at most with no treatment) was NOT an option.

October 31st, 2006, Bart’s right front leg was amputated. He came home the next night, though the doctors wanted to keep him one more day, he wanted to be home and we wanted him home. He weighed 125 lbs. before amputation. He was 111 lbs. two weeks post-op.

It took him about two weeks to feel like himself again, he had some swelling and discomfort. The first few days home he actually returned to his troublesome ways, he climbed up the stairs (because I left the gate open and didn’t think he’d do it), jumped up on my bed and strained himself. We returned to the vet to check out the bruising he had on his abdomen, and he got ME in trouble for letting him do too much! We sedated him for a few days to give him a better chance to recuperate, after that time he seemed to have less energy while his body was still recovering, but it has returned.

Two weeks following the amputation, 11/15/06, and one day after he turned 23 months, he started a chemotherapy clinical trial for Cisplatin SR. In this method the drug is injected directly into the muscle and is released into the body at a slower rate eliminating the need for IV fluids to counteract side effects to the organs for overload. 4 treatments are scheduled 4 weeks apart. His CBC’s were checked once a week for the first treatment, and all looked good. They will then be checked only at treatment time. He has had little ill-effects from the chemo. He does get sick every time for the first 24 hours, most likely due to the anesthesia given at the time of treatment. And his appetite is markedly decreased, but after the first chemo it returned just prior to the next treatment and after the second it returned even sooner.

We are keeping positive, and hoping that we have lots of time together with our special boy. He still gets to sleep on the couch and thinks every time we wake up early he’s going to the dog park. He’s visited a few times. The first time he kept close to me, not because he wanted to, but because I made him. The second time he ran and played with no regard to his ‘limitations’. We still go occasionally but I worry about possible injury to his remaining front leg because he plays quite rough so we are a little extra cautious. He really doesn’t notice that he’s missing a leg at all and he seems as healthy as ever, I hope every day we can keep it that way…

Pictures