Rescue

Well I am sad to inform you that after 16 months of remission, our dog rescue has lost his battle to cancer. We had to make the devistating decision to put him down today. We uthinized him tonight at 5pm. He was a good, loving, and friendly dog. He will be deeply missed and always in our hearts and memories. Heather, do not give up hope. Rescue was almost 10 yrs old and his age was catching up with him as well. When I did the research on the alternative diet, the other dogs with his type of cancer lived 4-6 years in remission. We were happy to get 16 months. At the time he was diagnosed the told us if we did nothing he may have 3 weeks and if we gave him chemo he had 6-9 months . He lasted 7 more months then they had predicted and they were a great 7 months. Here is his story and some pics below. Rescue was found Wednesday, June 23, 1999 in Cambridge, MD by Mr. Matt Wheeler (to whom I am eternally grateful) in a manor that was nothing short of spectacular. On his way to visit us in Ocean City for the weekend he spies two puppies running across the road. The first was struck by a car and never found, while Rescue cowered in the middle of the road, passed over by a fire truck (spared literally from the clearance), and crawled into a drainage ditch too frightened move. Witnessing this Matt crawled in, pulled him out, and took him to the vet. They cleaned him up and removed dozens of ticks but otherwise he was fine. After spending the night shivering under some blankets, they showed up in OC on Thursday, a day late but with a vet estimated seven week old Pit/Boxer puppy under his arms. Matt knew I was thinking about a dog (he already had three) and I knew immediately that if he went unclaimed I would keep him.Unclaimed after several days and unable to think of a better name (thankfully in retrospect) Rescue Sours found a home in Ocean City. Ocean City in the summer is a houseful of friends and a party that never goes to sleep. Rescue loved a crowded house, a good party, and the timeline fit perfectly so we coined his birthday Cinco de Mayo (May 5, 1999). Every year for his birthday he enjoyed a big steak and an egg. He spent his puppy years in OC (a little in Florida) playing on the beach and in the bay with Bass Phillips and the Ocean City Summer faithful. In 2001 he moved to Colorado where he spent his days running, hiking, camping, playing, and swimming, his all time favorite activity nothing else even came close. Throughout the years he drove/flew back and forth several times to visit all of you on the east coast to play in the sand and swim in the water.. On September 25, 2007 Rescue was diagnosed with lymphosacrcoma, or lymphatic cancer, an incurable cancer of the lymphatic and immune systems. With treatment his prognosis was 6-9 months, but he fought for 16 months running, hiking, and swimming till the end. Rescue Sours was euthanized a few weeks shy of his 10th birthday on February 11, 2009 at 5:15 PM MST after the cancer came out of remission for the third time.