Goodbye dear little Luther

[BeauandShan]

I am so sorry for your loss... It is heartbreaking to lose them at any time but when they are so young with their whole life in front of them it just doesnt seem fair. God obviously had other plans for him.

Rest assured he is now running free at Rainbow Bridge in some very good company


RIP little guy LUTHER

My thoughts are with you and your family at this sad time

Deb

[lgslgs]

Well, we are back from taking Luther's body to the vet. The vet will be doing a necropsy this afternoon to see if she can find out exactly what happened. We visited with Georgia Rae who is doing great. She is going to be staying there until this evening just so they can monitor her further.

We really didn't have a lot of choice about the decision to spay and neuter the pups despite the heart murmurs. We live in a rural area, and have a good fence - and right on the other side are at least 8 intact, unleashed dogs and bitches, possible more depending on how many puppies they all end up having this year. Having Luther intact with the entire area smelling like a bitch in heat would have been stressful to him and seriously interfered with his abilities to function as an off leash farm & livestock helper on our fenced 15 acres. Keeping Georgia Rae intact would risk attracting hoards of neighborhood strays and would put our livestock at risk of attack. You just don't risk luring a bunch of dogs to your land when you have a herd of goats.

The vet team did a lot of special advance preparation, minimized anesthesia time, brought in extra staff for a higher level of vital sign monitoring than normal, and even after the anesthetic wore off each pup had a tech monitoring them for any indication of problems. The most experienced tech (a favorite of ours as well) actually had the job of listening to each heart beat during surgery - monitoring each beat for any changes in quality. Another tech was monitoring the oxygen saturation through the entire procedure. Everyone in the practice was pulled in to monitor, assist, or be on standby.

Neither pup showed any indications of problems during surgery.

Luther and Georgia Rae were the center of attention at the office yesterday, and when we brought Luther's body back today every one of the staff was in shock and spent time with him in tearful goodbyes. I think there are going to be more tears when they gather around him this afternoon for the necropsy. Luther was a very nice little guy and made a lot of friends there during his short life.

We will meet with the vet again at 4pm, and Georgia Rae is scheduled to come home at that time. The vet will be taking photos of her findings during Luther's necropsy which will be shared with our other local vet (the one who did the free heart sonograms on Luther and Georgia Rae), the breeder, and the breeders vet.

The house is quiet, and Diva has inspected Luther's collar. I think she has an idea what it means when a collar comes home empty.

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. They mean a lot.

We just keep reminding ourselves that all rottweiler lives are a bunch of wonderful days, and then one really bad awful day. It's part of the continuum of rottweilers in our lives. The only way to deal with the really bad awful day is by being sure to make the most of the wonderful days - And Luther-boy certainly did. As hard as today is, we are not regretting bringing special needs puppies into our lives. I am glad to have had the opportunity to give little Luther a happy and wonderful life.

Lynda

[mamamia1]

So sad... I am writing through cloudy teared up eyes.
My heart goes out to you.

[kala]

Lynda, My condolences to you and your family. I'm so sorry. On the other hand what a huge heart you have. I'm sure you gave the little boy the best life ever for the time he had. You gave so much of yourself by taking in "special needs" pups. Luther had a short, but full life because of you. Where a lot of people walk away when they know the animals have special needs you waded right in and took care of Luther and now his sister. I will keep her in my prayers.

I only take special dogs into my home now. It doesn't matter to me if they are here for a week or years. The time they spend with us is what matters. They have so much to teach us about life and love it is amazing.
Again, my condolences on the loss of Luther
Many prayers and good thoughts for Georgia Rae and your family
sue

[bliss7373]

I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for giving Luther such a wonderful, albeit short, life. He will be waiting for you at the bridge.

[jlhnokc]

I am so sorry for your loss and have the utmost respect for your huge heart. He will always be in your heart and never be forgotten...Rest in Peace little man...

[Sheenagirl]

I am so very, very sorry for your loss of Luther.
Even though the time was so short with Luther, I am sure you have a bunch of wonderful memories to keep until you can be together again.
You gave Luther a loving home for as long as he was on this earth.
He is flying high with the angels now.
RIP little Luther - you are in very good company!

[harleychik66]

Luther was so lucky to have had the time that he did with you as his family. Although his stay here was brief, you made his puppyhood special. No matter how long we have with them, it is always so painful when they leave us. I am so very sorry for your loss. RIP sweet little Luther.

[lgslgs]

We have the necropsy results. No sign of SAS or of a septal defect.

Luther died because he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The walls of the ventricles of his heart were at least double the thickness that they should have been, shrinking the pumping chamber to the point where each heart beat could only pump at significantly diminished capacity.

This is different than what the heart sonogram led us to believe, and that will be valuable feedback for the vet that did those as it indicates that the equipment she has at her practice will likely have very limited use in diagnosis of canine heart defects. We knew that the diagnosis from those images was not definitive, and that vet will welcome the new information and necropsy photos to add to her knowledge about the diagnostic limits of the sonogram equipment she has available. Just in case it was not clear here, spay/neuter and necropsy were done by our primary small animal vet, free heart sonograms were done by our primary large animal vet. Different people in different practices, with different access to diagnostic equipment.


We have necropsy photos of the heart walls and once we get our bearings here I may start a thread in the vet section for folks who may be interested. The necropsy was a sad thing to have done, and the pictures of little Luther's heart were sad to view, but the info is important for both vets, the breeder, and also for us.

With heart walls so thick, and chambers so tiny, Luther was destined to be a "short timer" in this world. He was here in our home for only about 100 days, but will be a part of our lives forever.

Georgia Rae is home and everything seems fine. She's on restricted duty for the next two weeks until her sutures are removed. We don't know what to expect her lifespan to be, but know that she could have a surprise sudden Luther-style ending. Until then, though, there are butterflies for her to look at, flowers for her to sniff, and all sorts of puppy/young dog things on her work list. :)

Thanks again to all of you for your support through this very sad day.

Lynda

[frontierrots]

There was an adult Rottweiler out in Western US named Maik that died of the same exact heart defect. This dog is not your dog's sire is it (I doubt it but had to ask)

[lgslgs]

Originally Posted by frontierrots

There was an adult Rottweiler out in Western US named Maik that died of the same exact heart defect. This dog is not your dog's sire is it (I doubt it but had to ask)

No, that's not the name of the sire of our puppies. If the Maik you mentioned is the one who pops up prominantly on a Google search, he is not related in the slightest to our guys.

Luther is the product of American bred sire & dam, COE breeder. His pedigree is built on generation after generation of the sort of dogs, kennels, titles, and health clearances that the most dedicated COE breeders on this site would consider for their own breeding programs.

Lynda

[Jaidann]

I'm very sorry for your loss. I would read every thread you made about your pups with much interest. He is lucky to have found a loving home with you :)

RIP Luther.

[Kev]

I am so sorry for the loss of such a little guy. My thought are with you and your family at this very difficult time.

[frontierrots]

Originally Posted by lgslgs

No, that's not the name of the sire of our puppies. If the Maik you mentioned is the one who pops up prominantly on a Google search, he is not related in the slightest to our guys.

Luther is the product of American bred sire & dam, COE breeder. His pedigree is built on generation after generation of the sort of dogs, kennels, titles, and health clearances that the most dedicated COE breeders on this site would consider for their own breeding programs.

Lynda

I remember he was from a good breeder. I am very glad they are supportive to you. SO many who produce a health defect just dump their puppy people to the wind

I only asked about if there was a relation because this is a VERY VERY uncommon cardiac defect in the breed

I hope the little girly pup is doing well.

You KNOW you have my full sympathies

[fostermom]

When I read your first post about these two special puppies, I was hoping they would beat the odds. I am so sorry for Luther's passing...I hope your little girl continues to do well. And thank you for helping these babies...you are a very special person as well.