Damn, that's hard.

Post #395,427 by hnick 10/11/14 4:55:07 PM Reply	Damn, that's hard. All my sympathy and commiseration. I've been there. I have no other words but so sorry. "Religion, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable." ~ AMBROSE BIERCE (1842-1914)
Post #395,432 by boxley 10/12/14 1:17:47 AM Reply	he has been blind for 2 years had a bad ear infection 2 weeks ago that left him mostly deaf, he can't hear his beloved tennis balls bouncing any more to chase them. The only eye that could determine light and darkness on the same side as his ear infection became infected. Even after treatment it ruptured yesterday. The vet said they could remove the eye, but he cannot hear, would not be able to determine shadows (which he loves to chase as his only enjoyment) his quality of life would suffer beyond repair. As the people responsible for his well being my wife and eye decided that the best thing is to let him go. So with some painkillers I will spend today and tomorrow treating him with human food which he wasn't allowed to eat, letting him sleep with me and taking a walk or two on the beach. Like most pets he was chosen for a kid but became mine. I will miss him. Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 59 years. meep
Post #395,437 by hnick 10/12/14 12:32:47 PM Reply	Been down that road a couple times. The first was a spanielly mutt that was dumped on our tree lawn while my (now) wife and I were first living together. We figured we'd keep her over night while we found out what to do with her. We had her for 18 years... The last 5 or 6, she was running on Rymidal(sp?) for severe arthritis in her hips. Finally, the vet told us it was time to let her go. Reluctantly, we did. We got a pair of golden mutts from a rescue place to replace her. One of them developed Addisons AND megaesophagus concurrently. It was shortly before I was "retired" out of Cisco in 09. Around Christmas, the vet gave her about 3 months to live. With rather expensive medications, she had reasonably good quality of life until June of 2012. Her sister had died the month earlier of bladder cancer, which popped up and killed her in a period of 8 weeks. Again, it became evident that it was time to let go again. It is very hard, but we owe them that last responsibility. I'm sorry for what you have to go through. "Religion, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable." ~ AMBROSE BIERCE (1842-1914)
Post #395,438 by Another Scott 10/12/14 3:16:17 PM Reply	We've been fortunate. J and I have only done it once since we've been together. Our Colleen had hemangiosarcoma when she was 10. :-( We had a scare with our Sophie earlier in the week. She pulled a wrapped up loaf of raisin bread off the counter (that I had foolishly left too easy for her to reach) and ate about 1/4 pound of it. She showed no signs of distress when we got home about 9 hours later (she did it just as we left for work apparently) - she was happy to see us and didn't act at all guilty, but we called the vet to find out whether we should not feed her dinner. We reached them just before they closed. The vet said eating the bread wasn't the problem, but an indeterminate number of dogs will have severe kidney damage from eating as little as 1-2 raisins. :-( So we had to take her to an emergency vet and decide whether to give her IV fluids for 48 hours to try to flush everything out. We decided to do it, and fortunately all the subsequent tests indicate no damage, but unfortunately that doesn't mean that she isn't sensitive to them. (One of the vets told a story about a dog who has eaten raisins on multiple separate occasions and each time they went the IV fluids route...) It was an expensive lesson for me. I probably won't be getting raisin bread again anytime soon! It's hard to have them leave us. The pain is less sharp over time, but it doesn't really go away... Sincere condolences to you (and to Box). Cheers, Scott.

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