Snowy had a bad morning.
I spent about an hour crying, cradling him to my chest, rocking him and walking him in a peaceful path around the living room and hallway, much like walking a colicky newborn.
I then left him in Sarah’s sweet care and went off to see the vet who said I could keep the pain and steroid meds at their highest doses and didn’t have to worry about tapering anything off for right now; she also gave me a high dose muscle relaxer to add to the mix, just so that we can try to get him comfortable.
She hadn’t wanted to mention this earlier, but she said that he has lost over a pound over the past few months which is about 13% of his body weight–a huge amount of weight, especially for such a small animal.
She said that since we aren’t seeing good results from the nine days of the current treatment regimen (and also factoring in the weight loss), we may be looking at a clot or a cancerous tumor.
In the past few minutes though, he has pulled out his “Snowy, The Amazing Recovering Dog Act” and seems–for the moment, at least– to be happy and free of pain. This goes along with the pattern we’ve been seen develop over this past week of really terrible mornings and evenings and really happy days. (And by the way, no matter how poorly he’s feeling, he always musters up enough energy to stick his furry nose into a plate of diced, chilled watermelon and chow down like a chow hound.)
This morning, I took him outside for a few minutes because he loves to walk and sit in the cool, soft grass. He wasn’t feeling real peppy and did a lot of his restless sitting down/standing right back up routine, but I managed to catch him during a few peaceful moments.
He looked pretty pitiful from this angle with his wet-from-the-dew legs, scar from his last surgery, hunched back and newly thin body.
But he managed to muster up his patented blend of Snowy Spunk and trot on through the door of his home–the place that holds the hearts of those who hold him so dear.
Praying Snowy has some better days ! I know this must be so hard for all of you… prayers…
Snowy: We are all pulling for you, Big Guy! Hang in there!
I’m sorry…it’s difficult to make that decision when you see glimpses of “normal.” Prayers for all of you and especially for Snowy’s comfort.
poor snowy. if it is a clot, is it relativly easy to fix like in humans? i know my clot scare last year was pretty bad they told me had i not came in i would not have made it til morning. thankfully mine was hormone related so i only needed the pill once a day for 9 months.
As people have said over and over, it is true … you will know when the time has come. In the meantime, keeping him relatively pain free is so comforting. It’s just so hard. We just want our babies not to hurt … human and canines. Prayers.
Oh dear! Such a difficult time. Praying for his comfort.
Tears for all of you. So glad you can have more med’s for him so he is more comfortable. So sad for you all. Wendy
Praying for Snowy and all of you as well:) My thoughts are with you!!
Hugs.
HUGS and PRAYERS to you all. As I mentioned we are in the same boat with our fur-baby.
I’m praying your little guy gets to feeling better. Sending prayers to you and your family.
Love that little fella! Sending hugs to all of you.
I am so, so sorry. Such a sad time for all of you. Thinking of you and praying for Snowy’s comfort.
Tears. You will know when Snowy needs the ultimate expression of love and care. I’m so sorry for all the pain.
My heart breaks for all of you. It sounds like you will do what you can with the pain meds and steroids and when the breakthrough pain is no longer manageable, then you will do what needs to be done out of compassion and love.
((hugs)) to all of you…