For those who may be wondering about the bulked-up dog in the photo, that's a picture of <a href="http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/story.... the whippet</a>, whose shape results not from the use of steroids, but from a genetic mutation. This is known as the "bully" type in greyhounds and whippets -- one copy of the mutated version of the gene results in superior athletic performance, two (like Wendy has) results in grotesque overdevelopment and other medical problems.

My first reaction is human athletes know the risks, both in health and legality. Animals (equines) don't have a choice; it is morally wrong.

Rodger Dodger, the amazing wonder-Lab? At his age,I would give him any drug that could provide quality of life, for whatever time is left. Isn't that attempted by human doctors with elderly and/or terminally ill people?

No drug is without risks, assessing risk versus benefit is the nature of pharmaceuticals

T.T.: Thank you for that link and for the nformation. I had NO idea this was not a photoshopped image. I was not familiar with this mutation. In fact, I feel bad about using Wendy's image in this case so I'll be switching it out of respect.

I agree that trying to extend a dog's life by extraordinary means is not necessarily the right thing to do. However, I used Winstrol for one of my labs in her last year. She wasn't as old as Roger Dodger - she was 12, and had a number of health issues that come with old age - pain in her spine, loss of coordination, cognitive problems and so forth. We were not aggressive in treating every bump & lump, and we didn't do a whole lot of diagnostic tests - the question was always, if we did find something would it change our course of treatment and would I put her through something like chemo etc.? Generally the answer was no. But the most pressing concern my vet has was her weight loss - she had to be coaxed to eat and was losing weight, she was terribly thin. The steroid did not get her to gain weight but at least she stopped losing. I could not have allowed myself to watch her waste away and not try the steroids - I don't think it's an extraordinary measure like putting a dog on life support - it's quality of life. And I had no illusions that she had years of life ahead of her, she was definitely developing cognitive disfunction and neurological problems which most likely were the cause of her death. When it was time for her to go, she went - but earlier that day she happily went for a walk around the neighborhood with me, something she was able to enjoy until the end instead of becoming too weak.