Otto's tumor was on his L5 vertebre. The diagnosis was made in February of 2006 after a surgical biopsy. At that time the tumor was already too large to remove so we took him to an oncologist in Tampa who referred him to the University of Florida for a new radiation treatment scheduled at Shands hospital. At UF in March they said the tumor was larger than they realized and they could not use the radiation due to very small buffer of bone left between the tumor and the spinal cord. At that time they said with in 2 to 3 months there would be significant changes that would require a tough decision. We took him home and I read everything I could find regarding holistic cancer treatment. With the help of my neighbor who is a veterinarian we put him on a supplement program and she also did acupuncture treatments. His quality of life was wonderful as this tumor obviously was not painful. I really feel the home treatments he received help us to have him longer than expected. It was only in the first week of October that he began to have problems getting around. Then he took a sudden turn for the worse and we realized the tumor had broken through to the spinal cord. My neighbor came over and put him to sleep at home. Even when he was unable to stand that night he never once whimpered, growled, or stopped licking our faces.

This experience has changed me significantly and I wanted to give you the background on Otto because I'm sure there will be good to come of his 3 short years.

Thank you again, Suzanne