Pet Cancer Survivor – Rudy’s Story

As part of Pet Cancer Awareness Month, Veterinary Pet Insurance is highlighting some of our policyholders’ pets that were diagnosed with, treated for, and survived pet cancer. Every year in the United States, millions of pets are diagnosed with cancer, yet many pet owners are unaware of the prevalence and cost of the disease. Our first story comes from VPI policyholder Robert and Mellissa Meadows of Trussville, Ala., whose wirehair fox terrier was diagnosed with cancer last year.

Rudy is our 8-year-old wirehair fox terrier. He’s not just a pet; Rudy is our family member and friend.  With that being said, as soon as Rudy came into our lives we purchased VPI policies for him, which included the cancer rider. Considering Rudy as a family member, we wanted to be able to provide him with medical care just as we do ourselves. This turned out to be a wise decision and for that Rudy is with us today.

A year ago Rudy was experiencing breathing problems. It seemed minor to us at first, like he was snoring in his sleep but we began to notice that we could hear a noise whenever he was breathing. We took him to the veterinarian multiple times to try and figure it out. We thought for a while it was allergy related. We spent several months trying to find out the cause of the noisy breathing. With that being said, we were comfortable continuing to investigate the root cause because VPI was helping us with claim payments along the way.

Rudy’s breathing was still noisy and had become labored. So, we decided to seek another veterinarian for advice. I came in contact with Dr. Chris Campbell at Riverview Animal Clinic in Birmingham, Ala., who took a very personable interest in Rudy.  Through his care and determination he discovered (performing a scope of his throat) that Rudy had a tumor that was blocking over 50 percent of his airway. This was the result of the noisy and labored breathing Rudy was experiencing.

Dr. Campbell was not comfortable performing any type of procedure on Rudy because of the location of the tumor. It was imbedded in his larynx (voice box). Dr. Campbell contacted several other veterinarians in the area to see if they were comfortable with the procedure. He went as far as drawing a picture of what he observed and drove several miles to meet with a specialty group to discuss the possibility of them performing the procedure. We were beginning to lose hope that no one could help Rudy.

Dr. Campbell suggested that we take Rudy to Auburn University to visit their veterinarian oncologists. I contacted VPI that day just to confirm our policy for procedures and the cancer rider. VPI assured me that we had the right coverage and wished us luck with Rudy.

We made the two hour trip to Auburn to visit with the oncologist. We visited Dr. Henderson and Dr. Brad Matz who confirmed the tumor was soft tissue sarcoma. This was devastating news. Dr. Henderson explained to us that he had performed a procedure on a dog a few years ago with the same diagnosis. The procedure was a permanent tracheostomy and laryngectomy. Wow, this was frightening. The thought of removing Rudy’s voice box never to hear him bark again and to think he would breathe out of his neck and not be able to smell again. This was horrible for us to digest at first but they reminded us that Rudy was young and healthy otherwise. They felt his breed would give him the tenacity to overcome this and live a good life. We remembered then why we named him Rudy. We chose that name because I had a wirehair fox terrier before and I know that this breed has a determined nature and are fearless. One of my favorite movies, “Rudy” is about determination and the unwillingness to give up. Dr. Henderson and Dr. Matz asked me, “What do you want us to do?” I asked them to save my friend.

The next day Rudy underwent surgery to remove his larynx along with the tumor. Dr. Matz created a stoma which is an opening in his neck that leads straight to his lungs. Rudy spent the week in Auburn under their care. We had to return to work that week but fortunately our daughter is a student there and was able to visit Rudy daily to help encourage his strength. She sent pictures to us daily and it was hard not to be there with him. We went to get him at the end of the week. They instructed us to stay in town overnight with him and gave us instruction on his care and asked that we come back in the morning before leaving town. This would give us a chance to see what things would be like and ask questions about his care going forward. It was so good to see him again; he looked like he had been through a lot as anyone would after having such a procedure. That first night was tough. We couldn’t get him to eat or drink much and we were scared.

We returned home the next day and the moment we walked in the door Rudy went straight for his bowls of water and food. He licked our faces and wagged his tail. He ran outside and tried to sniff out things to hunt in the yard. We knew then all would be fine. He just wanted to be home and he would survive.

There are only four dogs known in the world to undergo this life-saving procedure. There are dogs that have tracheostomies but this particular procedure is rare because there is a laryngectomy included.  There aren’t tubes to worry with as with humans. For the past year, Rudy has been the only living dog in the world with this diagnosis and procedure. Rudy has been on light chemotherapy the past year. The only thing we have to do for care is give him breathing treatments daily with a nebulizer. I do this once a day. He knows what it is and sits in the chair with his head up as I give him the breathing treatment.

What a joy to have Rudy with us today. I never miss an opportunity to mention VPI to others with pets.  VPI helped save Rudy’s life by paying claims for the procedure and medications. If it weren’t for us having purchased a VPI policy for Rudy it would have been much more difficult to make a decision a year ago.

Thank you VPI.

Robert and Mellissa Meadows VPI Policyholders Since 2005