Monte's Page

Weight: 110
Breed: Rhodesian Ridgeback
Age when diagnosed: 4

Tumors:

This is Monte, our 4 year old Rhodesian Ridgeback.
From the day we set eyes on Monte we knew he was the one for us, and we definitely made the right choice. He is the most gentle, loving, loyal friend you could have.
One day in February this year Monte started limping, we took him to the vet and they told us there may be a problem with his hip, put him on Rymadil and sent us home, a month later it was no better so we asked to be referred to a specialist. He took one look at his rear right leg and told us he suspected he had cancer, well that was the last thing we ever expected. I had not heard of Osteosarcoma before and was even more shocked to be told that that it was likely Monte has at best a year with us, that was with amputation and chemo.
That same day Monte had a biopsy done, unfortunately after one month the results were inconclusive so he had to have it done all over again, this time taking a bigger piece of bone. Again this test was not conclusive but the vet decided that the only way to proceed was amputation. On the 30th May Monte had his operation, this was the first day of the rest of his life.
We are still waiting for some sort of firm diagnosis to tell us exactly what type of sarcoma we are dealing with, hopefully it won't be much longer.
After a rough few days in the vets he came home and within minutes he was his old self again, he has coped wonderfully, you would never tell that he had 3 legs until you take a good look at him.
He is now halfway through his chemo, and again he has been amazing, he has had no side effects at all.
We are taking each day as it comes but Monte is going from strength to strength, everyone who knows him comments on how well he looks. He is enjoying life, being thoroughly spoilt, he loves his walks, especially as we now have a new member of the family for him to play with, a border terrier called Ozzy, he and Monte are now best friends.
We don't know for sure how long we will have left together, but each day is a bonus, we are praying he is one of the lucky ones as he deserves to live a long and happy life, he has given so much joy to us.
Monte is our true Hero.

Pictures