Post by dmbenson on Nov 8, 2012 10:03:28 GMT -5
May you always have loving laps, interesting scents, birds to bark at, warm
grass to nap in, and chins to lick. I will always love you dearly, and see your funny ears perked up at me at the thought of food. My chin may never be truly clean again. Give my love to Vixie, Taz, Buddy, Zipper, Echo, Fancy, Grimmie, Sinatra and of course Faith. Each of you are holding a part of my heart for me until I can come to collect it, and I know you're guarding it well.
Tomorrow I must take my little Duke down to the vet for his final visit. My DH found Duke on the side of the road we live on last year - his owners had decided they didn't want him any more and basically put him outside to live. Now we live in 1) a place with fairly serious winters, and 2) many many coyotes - that are perfectly happy to come up on a porch to get a dog or a cat - and Duke is a Silkie Terrier - a hair dog (like a yorkie) that weighs all of about 13 pounds.
In the genetic crap-shoot, Duke definitely lost, he has a curved spine, bowed front legs, a breathing problem and fecal incontinence (we found out later that was the 'real' reason his family put him outside) - but in the love lottery, he won big - he's all heart. He exists to sit on your lap and lick your chin - from your chest on up. He also LOVES veggies - I think my husband got about 10 strawberries from our patch this year - Dukie got the rest, and there wasn't a ripe tomato safe if it was within reach. And therein began the problems - Dukie got diarrhea. And kept diarrhea, and still kept diarrhea. We tried pepto, we went to the vet, we tried immodium, we tried a bland diet, we tried probiotics, we went back to the vet, we went to the vet again. And still the diarrhea kept on. On everything - all the chairs, the sofa, the floor, on all the dog beds, on our lap if he was there, everywhere.
He began to lose weight. Still bright eyed, still eager to be loved, still with the long long tongue to give kisses, still running around the yard with the other dogs - and still uncontrollably leaking.
We cannot stop the diarrhea - virtually every bite he eats comes out the back within 5 minutes. I bathe him daily to try to keep him clean. He's now lost so much weight because he doesn't retain food long enough to gain any nutrition from it, he weighs less than 9 pounds. It's time - and it's killing me. Damn it I tried so hard - and I can't help but feel that if I was just smarter, or had more money, or cared more, or SOMETHING, I wouldn't have to do this - but it's not right to let this continue - so I'll make the call, give him one more bath, buy a steak and feed him every single bite he'll eat, and hold him and cry while he goes to sleep.
Oh hell - I'm crying now.......................
grass to nap in, and chins to lick. I will always love you dearly, and see your funny ears perked up at me at the thought of food. My chin may never be truly clean again. Give my love to Vixie, Taz, Buddy, Zipper, Echo, Fancy, Grimmie, Sinatra and of course Faith. Each of you are holding a part of my heart for me until I can come to collect it, and I know you're guarding it well.
Tomorrow I must take my little Duke down to the vet for his final visit. My DH found Duke on the side of the road we live on last year - his owners had decided they didn't want him any more and basically put him outside to live. Now we live in 1) a place with fairly serious winters, and 2) many many coyotes - that are perfectly happy to come up on a porch to get a dog or a cat - and Duke is a Silkie Terrier - a hair dog (like a yorkie) that weighs all of about 13 pounds.
In the genetic crap-shoot, Duke definitely lost, he has a curved spine, bowed front legs, a breathing problem and fecal incontinence (we found out later that was the 'real' reason his family put him outside) - but in the love lottery, he won big - he's all heart. He exists to sit on your lap and lick your chin - from your chest on up. He also LOVES veggies - I think my husband got about 10 strawberries from our patch this year - Dukie got the rest, and there wasn't a ripe tomato safe if it was within reach. And therein began the problems - Dukie got diarrhea. And kept diarrhea, and still kept diarrhea. We tried pepto, we went to the vet, we tried immodium, we tried a bland diet, we tried probiotics, we went back to the vet, we went to the vet again. And still the diarrhea kept on. On everything - all the chairs, the sofa, the floor, on all the dog beds, on our lap if he was there, everywhere.
He began to lose weight. Still bright eyed, still eager to be loved, still with the long long tongue to give kisses, still running around the yard with the other dogs - and still uncontrollably leaking.
We cannot stop the diarrhea - virtually every bite he eats comes out the back within 5 minutes. I bathe him daily to try to keep him clean. He's now lost so much weight because he doesn't retain food long enough to gain any nutrition from it, he weighs less than 9 pounds. It's time - and it's killing me. Damn it I tried so hard - and I can't help but feel that if I was just smarter, or had more money, or cared more, or SOMETHING, I wouldn't have to do this - but it's not right to let this continue - so I'll make the call, give him one more bath, buy a steak and feed him every single bite he'll eat, and hold him and cry while he goes to sleep.
Oh hell - I'm crying now.......................