A better place…

Well, after a huge steak dinner last night, and leftovers for lunch, Buddy and I made one final trip to the vets office this afternoon. The end was peaceful, Buddy passed away in my arms snuggled up against my nose… just like he always did…

His pain level the last couple days had steadily increased and the pain killers no longer had a calming effect. All signs point to cancer or a tumor, but at this point it really doesn’t matter.

Buddy is running with a better pack now and I’m sure the steaks are even better than the ones I cook. He will truly be missed by all of us, he was, and always be, a member of the family.

Buddy, save a spot for me on that pearly yacht in the sky. Hopefully it will be a while, but I can’t wait to see how excited you get when we meet again!!

We love you and we always will, you will never be forgotten.

Knowing When to Let Go…

In an effort to answer the euthanization question I searched around the internet for guidance and came across this simple quiz that helped me get a better grasp on where Buddy was as far as quality of life is concerned. I thought I would share it (and Buddy’s answers) with you in hopes that it can help someone in the future with this tough decision.

All answers are 1-10 (10 being a perfectly normal dog)

1. Is your animal in pain? 5 — Buddy is in pain, we’re just not sure of the level

2. Is your animal eating? 2 — Buddy may have consumed a handfull of food in the past 3-4 days.

3. Is your animal hydrating? 7 — Buddy is drinking, but this is a side effect of Prednisone (a med he’s on)

4. How is your animals Hygiene? 3 — Despite several baths recently, Buddy has lost control of his bowels and is basically left to lay in his own urine/feces b/c he doesn’t seem to know he has gone.

5. Is your animal happy? 4 — This was a tough one to answer. He is happy when he sees us, but not happy with his condition….

6. Is your animal mobile? 1 — Buddy is only mobile while in the wheelchair.

7. Can your animal express his/her bowels without assistance? 1 — Not since Friday….

Buddy only scores well on one question, and there’s a good chance that it is b/c of a side effect of the Prednisone.

Of course I’m not basing my decision solely on this survey, but it did help in reinforcing my decision that this was the right thing to do…. for Buddy, for myself, and for the family.

I can’t even begin to describe how hard this decision was to make. I don’t have the ability to even begin to put this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach into words, so I’m not even going to try. Given the current downhill trend it would be very selfish of me to allow him to continue to suffer. Sometimes it doesn’t even feel real that this is actually happening.

I’ve called the vet, gotten the info, now I just need to set an appointment……

Downhill Roll

Sorry I haven’t posted in a few days, guess I was hoping what we were seeing was just an anomaly and not the new norm. Starting Friday evening Buddy seemed to have lost control of his bowels. He also has lost all feeling in his rear legs. He is still in somewhat good spirits but the pain seems to be worsening.

I’ll be calling the vet to discuss options, although I already know there aren’t many options left……

X-Rays from Dr. Tews Office

There are only two x-rays but I have zoomed and inverted/adjusted them several different ways to try to show the area of interest.

Click on the image for a larger view. Opinions are welcome…

First X-Ray

Hi-Contrast Version

Second X-Ray

Again, any comments, suggestions, opinions….etc are very much appreciated. Maybe someone can look at these and see something we’re not seeing?

Thanks, for looking!

Chiropractor’s Visit

Buddy and I visited Dr. Tew last night after work. There wasn’t much adjusting going on, the doc mainly was just feeling around and trying to figure out where to concentrate his efforts.

Buddy has a knot on the left side (port side) of his spine about mid-body. This knot was noticed soon after this whole chain of events started taking place. The knot is VERY sensitive to the touch and the doc spent quite a bit of time exploring this area. I had to restrain Buddy when he was in/near the knot to keep him from chewing the doc’s arm off. I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Tew and Shanna, very kind and caring group of people!

Dr. Tew and Shanna shot a few more X-Rays trying to hone in on the area of the knot to see if anything looked suspicious. We did see 1 oddity (possibly) but they are going to hand the x-ray off for further analysis. I’ll be posting the new x-rays here hopefully later today.

Here are a few pics from the visit.

Buddy the model patient!

Dr. Tew and Shanna Studying the X-rays

A Closer Look….

Picked up Buddy’s X-rays last night from Baytree Animal Hospital. Buddy will be visiting a chiropractor this afternoon to see if they can be of any help.

I was able to scan in a couple of the xrays, the others didn’t turn out so well, basically scanned in black.

As a side note, those of you viewing these who do not know, Buddy was in an accident when he was 6 months old. A ‘friend’ let him out of my townhouse late one night and he was hit by a car. He had surgery on one of his hips to repair the damage but you can see the results in the xray. It took him a few months to recover from the accident but ever since he has been like a normal dog (except with one leg a bit shorter than the other).

Click on the images for a larger version.

Here is one I inverted for a little different look.

Buddy’s Lunchtime Walk

As you can see Buddy’s really starting to get the hang of his new wheels! The lunchtime walk was great! Beautiful cool breezy day.