He's lived a good life... being spoiled completely rotten...
I took him to the vet today because I had noticed him sleeping a lot more recently and when I pet him I could feel his back bone. This is a dog that has always been on the heavy side... he was 39 pounds at his heaviest. He got down to about 32 when we got the house two years ago which was a good healthy weight for him. When he stepped on the scale at the vet today... it said 21.1 pounds. He had lost one third of his body weight since his last visit a year ago. As I was waiting for the vet I was petting him and realized that I could fit both hands completely around what is now his waist. I immediately started crying because how did I not notice that much weight loss sooner! The vet assured me that she would have had difficulty too seeing how he's a total fur ball. They took some blood and after getting back his lab results discovered that there is something severely wrong with his liver. She says she's pretty sure it's liver cancer, that there is nothing that can be done, that I couldn't have made a difference by catching it sooner, that he isn't in pain... just kind of ho hum like you are when you have the flu, and that me bringing in the new dog didn't have any effect on this- depression isn't a factor here or something that he is battling. She gave him a drug cocktail shot... with penicillin, prednisone, and a few other things I don't remember. I will know by Monday if it is helping him, hopefully it will spark his appetite and perk him up a little bit... give us a couple more weeks maybe? The vet doesn't think it will work because of how bad his levels are. I've never had a pet last even a year growing up until I got my recent six pets. Growing up all of our animals disappeared or got hit by cars. Now I have a 14 year old cat, a 3 year old cat, a 5 year old turtle, 1 year old hamster, and a soon to be 1 year old Pomeranian, plus my dear Buddy who will be 12 in April. It's hard to even consider not having him around. It's hard to think of 12 as old when I'd like for him to live as long as people do. So this post is dedicated to my forever puppy Buddy, my first dog.
He's sleeping now on the couch... looking as healthy as ever and like he could jump up and run through the house like he's still a pup. It's going to be hard to let him go.
Having your furry friend get sick is the pits! I statrted blogging because of my daughter Rebekah' little poodle Tinkerbell. She was diagnosed with liver disease in November and she has little tumors on her head and back. I thought she was a diabetic because she slept all the time and drank water constantly when she was awake. She is ok, the other pets rally round her. It is very sweet to see. Please come say hi to me and I will be praying for you and your sweet furry pal!
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear this about Buddy! He's a beautiful dog... My heart goes out to you, and my prayers are with you both. ((hugs)) ~tina
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