Goodbye, Abby

We had to say goodbye to Abby today. We found her at the pound 12 1/2 years ago. She was a faithful member of our family to the very end. I always try to update this group when our pups struggle with sickness for any of you fighting the same battle. 

Abby was diagnosed with arthritis at around 8 years old. We've had her on glucosamine, chondroitin, and fish oil her entire life in an effort to prevent this but there is only so much prevention can do. 

Since we had luck with Meloxicam (NSAID) in the past with another dog, we put her on that daily until she turned 11 years old. This drug served us well. 

At 11, Abby began to struggle getting up and was just "slowing down". We swapped her Meloxicam for low-dose prednisone (5mg) and this pepped her up for about 6 months. Then we upped it to 10mg, then 20mg. By this point, the vet began trying different add-ons. Gabapentin did nothing except make her more wobbly. Tramadol had a minimal effect and codeine made her even more wobbly. 

By this past May, Abby could not get up without assistance. By June, she began defecating while she slept or attempted to stand. She also began peeing and pooping while she walked. Speaking of walking, all summer we have had to gradually reduce her nightly walk until last week when she could no longer walk without falling. She was now falling and "knuckling" every few steps. We had changed drugs again to Amantadine for a few weeks in hopes that something would improve but yesterday we came home to her yelping and not being able to support her own weight (and she had lost 20 pounds since May). It was time. We kissed her between the eyes this morning and said goodbye. 

You know the day you get them that one day, if you're lucky and bond to them, they will break your heart. My only solace is knowing that somewhere right now in a pound or rescue, there is another one waiting for me to find them.

Samson Crossed the Rainbow Bridge

 The vet came to our house and put Samson to rest today. Samson would have been 14 in August. We finally decided that it was time after Samson had become very immobile due to the pain in his hips and knees. He rarely moved from his spot on the hill (we moved to our new home last November), and it had gotten to the point that we rarely let him come in the house anymore due to incontinence. He often soiled himself even while outside, and that was just no way for him to live. So we requested that Dr. McQueen come to our house to administer the shot so that Samson wouldn't have to endure a fearful visit to the clinic. Samson died with a belly full of tasty hamburger and surrounded by loved ones.

Ellie Remembered

Here's the shadowbox that I made and a memorial video as well.

Dealing with the Loss

The pain of losing Ellie is getting a little better for both of us. We're both dealing with it differently, but it’s still harder on Travis.

The day we found out, I made cookies just to get my mind off of what had happened for a little while; we took the cookies with us to give to the vet and vet staff when we went to talk to him about what had happened. But since then, I seem to be taking a fairly direct approach to mourning. Today I went to see Ellie’s grave; Mom has it set up very nicely with flowers and a couple chairs. I've also begun thinking of a little memorial shadowbox for Ellie that will hold her collar tag and a photo.

Travis on the other hand is fighting his impulse to replace things when they’re broken. He’s already looking at puppies. Though he knows it’s too soon, he also thinks it would help him to stop focusing on the loss of Ellie. We’ll see what happens…

Burial

Daddy buried Ellie with her collar and her tennis ball this morning.

Ellie's Gone

Ellie Stats: Deceased, not yet 1 year and 6 months old

• The vet called Travis and told him that Ellie passed away last night at around 8 o’clock. He said that after surgery she continued to vomit, and nothing they gave her would stop it. We are devastated not only because we've lost Ellie, but also because there is still no apparent cause for her illness and eventual death. It is very frustrating and difficult to deal with.
• We both left work for the day to mourn the death of our beloved Ellie.
• We decide to let the vet perform an autopsy in the hopes of finding something on the cellular level that could be the cause of all of this. I’m not sure when we’ll hear back about it.
• We decided to bury Ellie at my parents’ house.