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Such the sweet face. Thank you for giving him your love and a good home. I am so sorry for your loss.
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I know a lot of folks (like me) avoid the Rainbow Bridge sub, so I'm posting here to let you all know my sweet boy Rudy passed away on Thursday night. He would have been 17 years old next month, so it was a LONG and happy life.
He'd been fighting a few age-related issues these last few years, but overall was doing pretty well for an old fella. Then he suddenly lost the ability to use all four legs, so I rushed him to the emergency vet. They said it was - I think but might be remembering wrong - degenerative myelopathy? Basically a degenerative spine disease, which we'd probably been mistaking for his arthritis getting worse. They said nothing could be done, and especially given his advanced age + larger size, it wasn't an option imo to make him "live" as a quadriplegic for however many days or weeks he'd have left. So I made the difficult but humane decision to euthanize, and he passed away peacefully in my arms.
He was a great dog, and will be terribly missed by me and everyone who loved him; especially his BFF, Bindi the tuxedo cat (they were together for 14 years). She's been sleeping in the spot where he last laid, and a little clingier than usual. But I think she'll be okay in time. Rest peacefully, Rudy-Booty Boy.
I always thought that type of stuff was silly, but after the loss of Sakari, I wish I would have done that for her.
RIP to your buddy. He lived a wonderful life, according to those photos. So happy when a dog has a great home. I know it sucks to lose a dog, no matter their age, yet I also know that you gave that dog the best life.
I always thought that type of stuff was silly, but after the loss of Sakari, I wish I would have done that for her.
I did too, but when he was about to hit 15 I figured "now or never!" He did end up having one more birthday after that, but I'm still really glad I did it - especially since he was more "out of it" by the 16th. It was just the two of us and a chicken/cheese cake, since that was the first year of the pandemic. Still made for a special memory.
I'm sure the dogs don't care much, beyond the special treat. Still fun sometimes. I'll do that for my new dog, at least once or twice.
Darn, I'm misty on a Monday morning for a dog I didn't even know personally. Rudy was a hot-$hit of a dog, I could tell. But I'm glad the euthanasia decision must have been clear for you Gizmo. I didn't know about Bindi the cat but I'm not surprised Rudy had a feline BFF.
He sure was! And yes, it was sadly clear that the time was then... he wouldn't have had any quality of life, plus I couldn't physically or logistically (given that I'm at work all day) manage a paralyzed 40lb dog. The vet said he would have been gone soon regardless, due to his advanced liver disease. She said it was VERY enlarged in the ultrasound they did, so really the paralysis was almost a "blessing" in disguise. Saved him the further suffering.
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My mourning strategy for my dog last year was to talk about him constantly, even to strangers.
Yes, that has been helpful. Even in those moments right after he passed, I asked the vet to stay with me for a few minutes. She asked me questions about him, one of which made me laugh and break the tension... she asked if he was an athlete, and I laughed through my tears as I said "No, he was a slow and clumsy dog. Just like his mama!" Strangely, that helped.
Thank you.
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