She Will Be Missed

I had a terrible end of 2008/beginning of 2009. A few weeks back my eldest dog, Abby, fell ill. It was bad enough that we took her to the 24 hour Emergency Vet where she was hospitalized for a few days as she was pumped full of fluids (she was dehydrated) and antibiotics. Once she could hold food down, she came home.

She was sluggish but good for a few days and appeared to be getting better. She would occasionally cough and bring up a little food and bile but nothing like the torrent of vomit she had been expelling a few days prior. As this persisted and that she quit eating, we took her into our regular Vet a week after she was discharged from Emergency Services. They took some blood and did some X-rays and weren't pleased with what they saw.

That night, Abby relapsed. She began vomiting again; awful, ill-smelling stuff that seemed to have no end. Worse, she seemed to look guilty about doing this. It seems that these bad spells happened mostly at night (mostly). She continued to refuse food and each round of vomiting left her weaker and more dehydrated. We had an appointment set up for an upper gastrointestinal X-ray for today, January 2 -- the earliest we could get her in between work and holidays.

By Wednesday night -- New Years Eve -- she was in dire straits. Despite eating a bit during the day, she was getting weaker and weaker. We knew that we had to do something when she went outside, laid down on the snowy driveway, and hesitated to come back in. Back to Emergency Services we went...

My poor girl's intestines were blocked. Cancer throughout her system. We found this out over the night and in the morning via a series of phone calls from the Vet. We knew what we had to do, and did it yesterday morning. We knew she was suffering and put an end to it.

This tore my heart out of my chest. Abby has been with us for over nine years now. She was the first dog that I helped raise up from a puppy. She and I spent a lot of time together. She loved riding in my car and I'd take her down to my PO Box as often as I could. She could fetch like nobody's business and loved swimming. She will be missed greatly.