So we finished one of the immuno suppressant drugs - one we had to wear gloves to handle so we wouldn't come into contact with it. That only leaves 8 more drugs to be administered throughout the day, and night. I'm sure this is what parents go through. Or I imagine. I don't have any kids. -Well, none that I know of . . .

Here he is playing ball this afternoon. A little bit more energy today, but I still only tossed the ball a foot or two straight up into the air - don't want him bruised or cut for fear of a bleedout.



And today we caught a rat. After we came back from the hospital I set out some traps. Not certain if the dog got into one with poison in its system or possibly ate some poison brought along by one of the rats. There's a big parking lot behind the house which belongs to the municipality which has rats.

Please let it be rat poison; at least he would have a chance of a recovery unlike Leukemia or Lymphoma.

Anyway, here's the rat we caught by the back fence near the area with the poo pit. Very exciting day for the pup.

Aww. He's cute. =(

Cantrip, keep up the good work on eliminating the local rat population! Also any news on the pup?

So.

Bad news to report. -Skip this thread if you only like happy endings.

He was fine yesterday. Had to do that retest on Sunday and the results were supposed to be reported today, but yesterday evening he went from active, to a bit tired.

By bedtime, he was very tired. He slept in the living room on the dog bed and I watched over him from the couch.

During the night he vomited his dinner - which included the medications hidden inside the meatballs of dog food.

In the early morning he wanted to be let out so he got his walk early. We went around the yard, then back inside. He was panting hard. He looked very tired. He wouldn't take any food - which meant he wasn't going to get his vitamin K dosage. I went back to sleep.

After a couple of hours, he vomited again. He got walked again after I helped him get up. This time, while sniffing the neighbor's yard, he just sat down. Then he put his head down. Someone watched over him the whole time. After about an hour, I finally picked him up and moved him to the front porch.

He was there, seemingly unable to move, for several hours. He puked again, so he got moved. There was no way to get food in him, so he got the meds throughout the morning by forcing them into his throat.

After a while the sun reached him so we erected a tent - he still couldn't get up.

Fed him water, little by little. Just enough for him to lap up a few ounces at a time, with several minutes in between. He was very thirsty.

After about an hour, he puked up everything again. -Couldn't even hold down water at this point. Moved him again and watched him for about another hour or two. Someone watched over him every minute of the day.

During this time we got a call from the vet with the blood results. Absolutely no platelets. Low white blood cell count. He was worse off than when he was admitted to the ER vet over 10 days ago. They said they wanted to do a bone marrow test and possibly chemo . . .

Fuck that. The dog's eyes were showing the hemorrhaging indicator - blood in his eyes, due to no platelets. It's cancer, in his bone marrow. Who cares what kind it is? We had agreed he would not go through anymore invasive tests or chemo - that would a crappy quality of life situation. For what? A few more months of him being miserable? No.

He was not interested in his #1 favorite activity: playing ball. He certainly could not partake in his #2 favorite activity: eating. And from the walks we took, he seemed to have trouble with his #3 favorite activity: shitting. -His legs would give out. His shit was a dribble out his ass. Blood and mucus more than diarrhea. Again, no platelets meant he was bleeding. He had lost his ability to make platelets completely, and with that, the ability to clot blood. So fucking sad.

So, here he is on the porch after resting from the last move just before we loaded him into the car to take to the vet.



When we got to the vet, they put a catheter in his leg and brought him into the room assigned to us.

We hung out with him for about 5 minutes while he lay on top of a blanket on the floor. Then the vet came in. She had two syringes in her lab coat.

The first syringe was full of a sedative. It was milky white. She explained that it would calm him down and afterwards, she would inject him with the "blue" liquid.

As the white liquid entered his vein, he stopped shaking and looked down at the catheter - like he was really enjoying the stuff. He seemed very calm and his panting slowed to normal breathing. He wasn't in pain anymore. He even licked the vet's hand as she patted him. He got a little bit drowsy.

While this was going on, I was bouncing his ball in front of him, about an inch or two from the floor. He looked at the ball a little and up at the vet and around the room. He seemed very calm.

Then the vet injected the blue liquid into the catheter slowly.

-Someone once said that the way you know you truly love someone is to ask yourself this question: If you had to die and the last thing you saw on Earth was this particular person's face, would you be okay with that?

I'm certain the dog was perfectly happy with watching the tennis ball bounce in front of him - his favorite game in the whole world - as he passed peacefully from this earth at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday, May 29, 2012.

:(

Here's how I choose to remember him - playing is favorite game in the whole wide world.

Dog Playing Ball

(Sorry, unable to embed the link above.)

I cried for you and your pup, Cantrip. I'm so sorry. :(

I'm also very sorry for your loss. I cried when I read your post.

It does get easier over time but you still hurt and you definitely never forget. I'm that way, atleast. So sorry Cantrip. :(

I have no idea what's going on in this thread but from the brief bits I skimmed I really have to commend Cantrip for his pet care. Most people take the cheapest, easiest route.