Mel was found in March of 2006 tied to a pole outside of a movie theater. The person that found him called the rescue group I work with because they could not keep him. He was about 10 months old and in bad shape with a collar grown into his neck. To this day he still wears a scar all the way around. Mel was taken to our shelter where he stayed for a few months. He finally got adopted but he was given back a short time after because a dog was just too much to handle for his new family. It was about this point that I started volunteering at the shelter. I fell in love with him immediately. Around May of 2006 I was moving into a new house so i thought it would be the perfect time to start fostering dogs. Of course Mel was my first choice. After having him in my home I knew there was no way I could ever give him up and I decided to adopt him. At the time, I have a large German Shepherd Lab Mix and they were the best of friends. In July of 2006 My other dog was hit by a car and killed. It was a huge tragedy for both of us. Around December of the same year I adopted another pittie named Trina. Her and Mel are now best buds. In 2008 Mel started having major digestive issues and was rapidly losing weight. At the time I worked at one of the best Animal hospitals in the area with over 15 doctors and no one could figure out what was wrong. It got to the point where we felt it would be best to do an exploratory surgery and take some biosies. All of the biopsies came back normal. We still had no idea what was going on. About a month later, my neighbors (who hated dogs and ESPECIALLY pit bulls) moved out. He miraculously recovered. I am still convinced they were throwing something in my yard that made him sick. He has been a healthy boy up until December of 2009. I noticed he had a small lump on the back of his leg. No big deal I though, just a cyst or a lypoma. I finally decided to take him to the vet and we decided it was best to remove the lump to see what it was. Due to the location we my vet was unable to remove the entire growth but he sent in a good portion for a histopath. It came back as a Grade III Mast Cell tumor. Before the surgery my vet told me that Grade III mast cell was the worst case scenario. I was devastated. After speaking with an oncologist my vet and I decided amputaion followed my Chemp and Pred would be his best chance of recovery. His amputation was done 01/22/2010.