Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Patachou my rottie angel

Patachou 04/14/99 - 06/11/07

I really wanted to write about Patachou on Monday (Apr 14th). That was Patachou's birthday when he was alive (he would have been 9 yrs old this year). But work got in the way (darn it LOL) This is my all time favorite pic of him. This was taken early 2007 after his diagnoses with Synovial Sarcoma (cancer).



The first time I saw Patachou, he was just 2 weeks old. He came from a backyard breeder (BYB) and was 1 of 14 rottweiler puppies. They were all just sooo cute. I knew the "breeder" and was allowed to come and visit. I sat on the floor with all those cute puppies, ohhh so small!!! One little puppy with a blue ribbon around his neck kept close to me and would push any of the other puppies out of the way when they wanted attention (for the record their eyes weren't open even). I had wanted a rottie for a long time and had promised myself a rottie boy for my graduation from college.

It was love a first touch between Patachou and I. He was my heartdog and just the sweetest boy ever!!
I was able to come back often and visit with the puppies. His "breeder" cared more than most BYB. Unfortunately she did just put 2 dogs together (Pebbles her dog, and Hercules, her friends dog) and hope for a good litter.


I got to bring Patachou home when he was 5 weeks old (yes I know it was early but I was getting ready to move to New Orleans and wanted to take him with me). Such a sweet and happy and well he did get named "Baby Jaws" since he was very good at biting everything LOL.


See how tiny he was. He was about the size of a 2 liter bottle of Coke.
We moved to New Orleans were he settled in nicely with the rest of the gang (Nanuchy terror mix, Bonzo bernese mountain dog, Patche & Pirata & Tux kitties lol). To say that the rest of the gang was happy to see Patachou was the understatement of the century LOL. He was a total little brat who got into everything and chewed on everyone lol

We all got very good at dunking our hands and feet in Bitter Apple. It took a while and quite a bit of training to convince him that biting wasn't acceptable lol. As he grew he found out the fun of eating through a wall LOL yeah it is funny now but not as much then.

I moved back to Houston and brought all the pets with me (hmmm add 5 goldfish that had gone over to NO and came back too LOL)


He ate through another wall and countless other things he thought would be fun, not to mention the millions of chew toys, bones etc I had for him.
Now who could get mad at this face LOL. Fully grown at around 104 lbs.

When he was 4 yrs old I noticed that he was limping quite a bit. After seen our vet, and 2 specialist (all this included x-rays and an mri of his back) He was diagnosed with Hip Dysplacia in both hips, left hip socket was too short so it would go in and out as he walked, arthritis in both knees and a slightly compressed disk in his back. My baby was not doing all that great sigh. He had a bad reaction to both Rimadyl and Deramaxx so those were out of the question. I got on my rottie group online and asked for help. One of the members gave me a list of vitamins and said she had had great success with her rottie who had many of the same problems as Patachou.

Soon Patachou was on Ester-C, Glucosamine & Chondroitin Sulfate, Manganese, Bromelian, Evening Primrose Oil and Salmon Oil. He did very well on this mix and his vet was very impress and said to keep doing it as long as Pata was going well.

Eventually I heard of a product call Nupro that had all those wonderful ingredients and several more. It comes in powder form and taste like liver to the dogs. So I put some in his food and he loved it.
So between the Nupro and Wellness food Patachou did very well for 4 yrs.

Then in December 2006 Patachou started limping again, and his left knee area was swollen. I thought he might have torn his knee which is very common in rotties. He was put on Previcox and Tramadol with strick instructions to keep him quiet to see if the swelling would go down.

On Jan 8th 2007 I brought Patachou in for x-rays. He was still limping and the knee still was swollen. His vet called me at work and told me that Patachou had cancer. I was a basket case. Pata's x-rays were sent to Gulf Coast radiology specialist for a diagnoses as to what kind of cancer it was. I saw the xray and the tumor was wrap completely around his leg.

The radiologist came back with Synovial Sarcoma. I got online and read up on it. Not a pretty cancer and especially not good for male rotties. I made an appt with Dr King at Gulf Coast to see what our options were.

Gulf Coast was a wonderful place. Patachou loved it there. Sooo many people to lick. After I filled up his paperwork Patachou and I stood a bit to the side. He wanted to move closer to the doorway so that he could lick everyone who walked past. He was happy and smiling the whole time.

Amputation of his leg was out of the question. All of his legs were bad and his other back leg wouldn't have been able to support the full weight. We decided on 3 rounds of radiation a week a part with reevaluations later on. He ended up with a total of 5 rounds.

He loved visiting Gulf Coast. Everyone knew him and just loved on him the whole time LOL. Not bad for a breed that has such a bad rap.

After one of his rounds of radiation, Dr King called me with the update and was totally cracking up. It seems a little female shihtuz was there for treatment too. And Pata and she were flirting and giving kisses to each other. I asked him if the female happened to be blond. Yep he was and he was totally in love LOL

I was very lucky with Patachou, he was given 3 weeks without treatment, and up to 1 yr with treatment. He got 5 1/2 months to the day from diagnoses. And it was 5 1/2 very good months.

The weekend my ex-hubby's stuff were removed from the house was the weekend Patachou went downhill. It was like he wanted to be with me there until the end. Patachou was such a huge part of my life. Never as a defender but the one to comfort me and always be my best friend. That weekend he stopped eating, not even hotdogs or cheese is all time favorite would temp him and we didn't sleep either.

That last weekend was for me, and he let me know he was ready to go. On Monday I called the vets to let them know it was time. I took him for one last walk with the girls (Nanuchy, Sandi, Sonja). He loved that walk and was smiling most of it.

My sister met me at the vets. There wasn't a dry eye in the whole place. Everyone came to say goodbye to him. He was very much loved there. I knew we had done everything we could at that point. I was at peace about letting him go but heartbroken that I had to.

They put a cathera in and I was holding him in my arms when they gave him the shot. He was gone before half of it was shot in. That was the hardest decision I have ever made (darn it crying again). On top of it, it was my birthday so it sucked. But I'm happy I was there for him as much as he had been there for me.



So I know Patachou is at the Rainbow Bridge, happy and healthy again, waiting for me.
I got a memorial tattoo in memory of Patachou back in feb. My baby will forever live in my heart. I still miss him like crazy. He took part of my heart when he died.


6 comments:

Brandy said...

You made me cry! I am so sorry you had to go through this, and Patachou, as well. You're right, he's still watching over you and will always be a part of your heart.
Love the tat, btw.

Rottie_mom said...

Thanks I appreciate it. I just had to write this. He was such a special boy. I have lots of fun stories but wanted to map out his life. Thanks I love my tattoo too lol

Anonymous said...

No matter how many furbabies we have, there seems to be one that's special. Mine is at the Rainbow Bridge too playing with Patachou. Hugs in their memory.

Peggy

Rottie_mom said...

Thank you and ohh so true!!!!

Tara said...

ahh i loved your story i hava 4 yr old rotty called tyson and he is havin a little leg trouble at the mo im hoping the vitamins help as i dont want him on medication i hav hurd that rymadyl may cause cancer so i relly dont want him on it. reading your story woz so sad and i dread the day i hav 2 say bye 2 tyson i jus hope he is around 4 a while yet. your rotty woz beautiful and looks a little like mine, they are such beautiful dogs and tyson is very ''licky'' also!!!lol...from tara,oxford,uk x

Anne-Kathrine said...

Thanks Tara I appreciate you reading about my baby. It has been more than 2 yrs and I still miss him so much.

Good luck with Tyson! Let me know if you want any info on the stuff I did for Patachou over the years.

Hugs!