Golden Lady of Shoreline

After a session with the Veterinary Internal Medicine specialist and an ultrasound, the news is not good, her condition is grave. She has 3 tumors on her liver and at least one on her spleen. She physically deteriorates every day. It's actually quite shocking. It breaks my heart to watch her refuse food, throw up her water plus stomach bile and waste away. After the almost 3 months of watching Devo waste away from cancer, I made a promise to myself and all of my furture dogs: I'll never let you suffer, because of my own breaking heart. As hard as it is to let Lady go, I just can't allow her to continue suffering from this sudden internal trauma. Thursday afternoon will be the last and kindest mercy for my girl. 

We’ll be spending quality time with Lady the next couple of days. Feeding her cooked chicken, ice cubes and anything else she wants. There will be plenty of cuddling, petting and cooing over her. She sticks very close to me; her eyes following my every move. Many tears have been shed with many more to come. She sure made an impression on everyone she ever met. Like my brother said “she brought so much happiness to our family in such a short time”. I won’t be posting anything for awhile. I’m sure you’ll all understand. I’ll put together a photo slide show and eventually a video tribute to Lady, and post it sometime in the future.

Lady, day one of our life together
May 27th, 2008

Today she is comfortable and protected in the arms of her loving family. This is my first adopted senior Golden. I always knew that her time with us was abbreviated, but no matter how much I expected it, it's a blow to the gut of epic proportion.

Lady not feeling well....

Lady is 11 or 12 years old

It’s been a couple of weeks now that Lady has just not been herself. We've been together almost 3 years. You really get to know the energy and personality of your adopted senior dog after just a few months. One thing that Lady has always had is spunk! You can see it in her eyes, the way she carries herself and how she affectionately greets every human she comes in contact with. Recently when I was sick with the flu, she seemed to be unusually reserved. It was obvious that Lady was not use to me spending days in bed and shuffling around with no energy, so I didn't give it much thought. Shortly after I began to recover, she started to turn away from her food. THIS was very unusual, but I thought at first that she had tired quickly of her new food (extremely high quality, but had a slight fishy smell). We quickly went back to her favorite venison and sweet potato, but her inattention continued.

Trip to the vet: X-rays and blood test, nothing jumps out to indicate infection. Valley fever test was negative. However, the x-ray indicated that Lady has an enlarged liver. Explains why she has lost interest in eating. Monday we will go to an internal medicine vet who will examine Lady with an ultrasound system. Hope to know more then.

Here is the best on-line reference that I have found on this subject:

Canine liver disease

If you know of a better one and/or a naturopathic resource that you trust, please send it on.

Now that I think about it, the last few weeks her belly has been a little “tighter” than normal when I give her the belly rubs she loves so much. Lady still eats a little, several times a day. She is happy and as enthusiastic as she can be about going for walks. She loves me feeding her chicken and applesauce by hand (hey, who wouldn't). Her energy level is way down, but she still displays her happy tail.

I’ll post again after Monday’s appointment.

New Zealand rocks (when it shouldn't)

Prayers and crossed paws for our Kiwi friends in New Zealand. What an awful thing to happen. We Pacific Northwest dwellers know all too well that quakes can strike any time with a furry beyond human comprehension. Our hearts are heavy from your losses.

An unusual collaboration - generations collide with wonderful results

Logan grows up!

It's been about 10 months since we last saw Logan. He is a VERY handsome boy with TONS of energy. Not sure I've ever seen such an energetic Golden Retriever. Here are pictures of the Lady/Logan reunion. Capturing still pictures of Logan was quite a challenge. Most of the time he was a blur. Once Lady gets the lay of the land at Logan's house, she proceeds to steal his toys and chew his bones. Pretty funny really.

Dude, you wear me out ... zzzzzzzzzzzz