Over the last few weeks Zorro’s health has declined dramatically, including the development of a largish lump on his ribcage.
He’s been through a lot, certainly we never expected that he’d recover like he did from his stroke a year and a half ago.
About two hours ago I took him to the vet. We had already decided that surgery would not be an option, he’s been through enough these last few years. The vet expected it to be a tumour, which is probably what we felt as well. He’s lost a lot of weight these past couple of weeks, and his energy is gone. Breathing was a chore for him, requiring the use of his abdomen muscles to move the lungs, and his heart rate was racing (140 at the vet).
We had the option to bring him home, but what good would that have been? To suffer longer? So I called Bev, and we made the very difficult, but correct, decision to let him go.
He went quick, without pain, and peacefully in my arms. We will miss him dearly, but like Ruby who went before him we have many many many good memories of his life with us.
Good bye good and loyal friend. We love you and miss you.
we’ve got a 14 year old english sheepdog named Kodi – and we’re going to be facing the same thing in the coming months. Her hips have become so bad she can’t get up off the linoleum if she is lying down, up on our bed, or up the stairs. No pain. But it’s so hard, eh? One becomes so attached to dogs. Other than me, everyone in my house is female [wife, 2 daughters, 2 female cats and 1 female dog] but Kodi was big and clumsy so I mentally think of her as a him, so I’d have someone to talk to, that I could understand.
Awww, that’s a shame. We lost Mulan to Advanced Renal Failure just recently as well, came as a shock, but had to make the same decision, let her go, or drag her through suffering for our sakes… sucks.