A golden retriever is alive today because of the efforts of vets at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, and the dog’s owner is saying “thanks” in a very public way.
The dog’s owner is WeatherTech CEO David MacNeil, and his gratitude for saving Scout will be evident in the $6 million ad you’ll see on Super Bowl Sunday.
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When Scout collapsed last year, an ultrasound revealed a tumor on the dog’s heart. MacNeil was told his dog, the unofficial mascot of WeatherTech, had about a month to live.
"There he was in this little room, standing in the corner ... and he's wagging his tail at me. I'm like 'I'm not putting that dog down. There's just absolutely no way,'" MacNeil told WMTV.
At UW, vets began an aggressive combination of chemotherapy and radiation targeting Scout’s tumor. “About a month later, Scout’s tumor had shrunk by about 78 percent. A little while later, that tumor was down 90 percent. Today, the tumor is pretty much gone,” WMTV reported.
“Scout is kind of the perfect patient in that he’s tolerated multiple modes of therapy very well, his primary tumor has responded beautifully to treatment, and we’ve been able to maintain his quality of life at a very high level,” David Vail, professor of comparative oncology at the School of Veterinary Medicine, told WMTV.
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Scout’s Super Bowl commercial, slated to air during the second quarter, will seek donations to the vet school.
But you can watch it now:
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