Goodbye Sweet Friend

My little dog, Bria was coughing and I took her in the Vet on Monday. He diagnosed her with Congential Heart Failure. He put her on a medicine that would help pull the fluid that was building up in her lungs. The next day she got progressively worse. Then suddenly she got better.

But in the late afternoon she started having seizures and she was having them every 10 minutes. I knew it was time to do the only humane thing even though it absolutely broke my heart.

She was euthanized this evening at 6:00 pm.

My sweet friend is at peace now. I know she went over the Rainbow Bridge to meet her friends that are already there and they are running and playing in healthy bodies. This gives me peace and hope that maybe one day I will see her again.

Thank you for listening.

 

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Sweet Loyal Faithful Princeton

Last week I wrote a post about my dog Princeton. I took him to the vet to have dental work done and his blood test came back that he had a damaged liver and damaged kidneys. The dental surgery would be risky because of the anethesia. Because he also had an infection showing in his blood work, I asked the vet to go ahead with the surgery. I felt that if he survived the surgery then he would then be doing much better having had his bad teeth (possibly infected teeth) taken out.

There is good news and bad news. Is doing somewhat better with the bad teeth taken out. But the bad news is, he is starting to get very confused. That is breaking my heart.

He has a follow up appointment this afternoon with the vet. I'm not sure what he is going to tell me. In other words, I'm not sure how much longer I will have my sweet Princeton.

Those of us who have pets know they are part of our family. My pets are my “fur children”. When they get old and their quality of life becomes greatly decreased, we must make tough decisions.

Several of my family members allowed their pets to suffer extensively before having them put down. I kept telling my mom her dog was really suffering and she refused to believe me because she didn't appear to be suffering to her. It was so sad and difficult for me to watch. Animals don't show their suffering in the way we humans do. For us to watch for signs of “human suffering” in our pets to determine whether they are suffering or not, is mindless and cruel. And I refuse to do that with my pets.

My sweet Princeton was an adult dog when I found him at the animal shelter eleven years ago. He was extremely emaciated, sick with a respiratory infection, and had to be left at the veternarians overnight with an IV drip. After that, he blossomed into one of the best dogs I have ever had.

Princeton is my “velcro” dog. He wants to be “attached” to me wherever I am (lying next to me where he is touching me or right by my side wherever I go). And, he mourns when I am not with him.

He loves loves loves treats and food, and in that order. He loves going with me when I drive somewhere so he can stick his head out of the window. His ears are flying in the wind and I am sure the scene is very comical to other drivers.

Hopefully, this is not me writing his eulogy. Something tells me that is very likely. If that is true, then it is better for me to write it now rather than later. Otherwise, I would not be able to do so.

 

 

Princeton

This morning I took my 13 year old dog to the veternarian to get his shots updated, teeth cleaned, and paw looked at (he has been limping a little).

The vet just called me and told me that his liver and kidneys are not in good shape and he is showing an infection in his bloodwork. He also said that because of his kidneys and liver, it might be hard on him to go under anesthesia.

After he explained to me that the infection could be caused by a tooth, I agreed with him and asked him to go ahead with the teeth cleaning (and extract any teeth that need to be extracted) and to go ahead with the anesthesia in order to do it. I'm saying a prayer and keeping my fingers crossed for my old boy, Princeton. He might be old (for his size) but I certainly am not ready to let him go (unless he is suffering, which I don't think he is).

Princeton has been my loyal and faithful companion for the past eleven years. (I got him from an animal shelter and he was an adult dog).

Because of his age, he has cataracts and his hearing is bad. But it doesn't keep him from getting around fairly well for an old boy.

I know that he may only have a few years or even a few months left to live and I want him to be comfortable, and not have to deal with pain from infected teeth.

With this, if you don't get another post this evening about my sweet dog Princeton, you will know that his “risky” surgery went well and he is at home with me, recovering.

This picture looks like Princeton. I don't have any photos of him because every time I would take a picture of him he would move his head. So I searched in Pinterest until I found a picture that looks like him. (Thank you Pinterest!!)