I apologize in advance for the long post.
This sucks. I had to put down my 12 year old chocolate Lab, Tebow - yes Tebow. After Tim Tebow. I didn't give him the name - last night. He would've been 13 in February. Fortunately, this was pretty quick. Thanksgiving morning I got up to go hunting. Let him out and put his food out like I do every morning. Once I got dressed and ready to go, I let him back in the house but noticed he had not even touched his food, which, as any Lab owner probably knows, is a MAJOR red flag. I went hunting anyway. When I got home, I let him out and kind of watched him because he seemed like he was acting funny. His entire life he has always been a very, very high energy dog - like kind of out of the ordinary high energy, even for a Lab. I thought I saw that his urine was a dark color but couldn't really tell if it was actually the urine or just the leaves on the ground making it look like that.
I was supposed to leave around noon to head up to my brother's house in Hernando for Thanksgiving. Whole family was going up there this year instead of having it at my parents' house in Madison (that's another long story). Anyway...as I was getting ready to leave, I let him out one more time (I had a friend who was going to come over later and let him out that night and Friday morning). I really watched him this time. I could tell he was a little lethargic. I could tell his urine was a real dark, port red color. Then I decided to take him to the Urgivet in Madison. They ran ultrasound, X-rays, urinalysis, etc. The vet came in with a sample of what I thought was blood, but it was actually my dog's urine. He said it was so bad he wanted to send the urine off for culture to find out what all bacteria was in it. Also said his bladder wall was very thick and inflamed. So he prescribed some anti-inflammatories, antibiotic (amoxicillin), and a liver supplement. He said that once the urine culture came back, they might have to change the antibiotic to something stronger, depending on what type of bacteria it was. They also said we should follow up this week with his primary vet.
We went home, and I started giving him the meds. That went ok for a couple days, although he would start to outsmart me with my methods of administering the pills! The Urgivet called Saturday to check up on him. I said I thought he was acting a little better but that it was getting harder to get him to eat anything and get meds in him. Vet said he's probably got pancreatitis as well and prescribed meds for that and some prescription dog food.
Last time I really could get him to eat anything substantial was probably Sunday. It got super hard to get any meds him the last couple days and wouldn't eat anything or drink much water. I finally took him to his primary vet (Dr. Sturdivant at Gluckstadt Animal Hospital. Great folks there, by the way.) yesterday morning. He called about 9:30 and said that he had pretty severe liver cancer and that I'd have to make a decision about putting him down. Decided that I would wait until today at 4:30 to have it done. I asked them if they would keep him overnight, because there was no way I would be able to take him home for the night only to have to take him back to the vet to have him put down today. Would just be too hard. They said they could board him for the night.
The vet called back about 4:00 yesterday afternoon and said that they weren't sure he would make it through the night and that he was declining by the hour. Asked if I could go ahead and come up there then so we could say goodbyes and go ahead and put him to sleep. Which is what I did. I'm having in cremated instead of burying him out at our pasture with the rest of my family's pets and horses buried through the years. Mainly because I don't want to have to take my dog in a plastic bag, put him in the back of the truck, and bury him in the dark at night. Just didn't seem very dignified or respectful. So I should receive his ashes back in a nice wooden box with a paw print and a tuft his hair next week sometime.
Needless to say, this is the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my entire life. This is actually the first time I've ever had to take a dog and have him put down down myself. It's not easy. It sucks. I'm not a person who even cries at funerals, but I've been bawling like a kid who just shit his pants on the playground since yesterday. It's just something about a dog, man. Dogs are awesome, and we certainly don't deserve them.
Again, I'm sorry for the long, rambling, stream-of-consciousness style post. Just had to get some thoughts off my chest.
RIP Tebow, and Hotty Toddy, RGers.
This sucks. I had to put down my 12 year old chocolate Lab, Tebow - yes Tebow. After Tim Tebow. I didn't give him the name - last night. He would've been 13 in February. Fortunately, this was pretty quick. Thanksgiving morning I got up to go hunting. Let him out and put his food out like I do every morning. Once I got dressed and ready to go, I let him back in the house but noticed he had not even touched his food, which, as any Lab owner probably knows, is a MAJOR red flag. I went hunting anyway. When I got home, I let him out and kind of watched him because he seemed like he was acting funny. His entire life he has always been a very, very high energy dog - like kind of out of the ordinary high energy, even for a Lab. I thought I saw that his urine was a dark color but couldn't really tell if it was actually the urine or just the leaves on the ground making it look like that.
I was supposed to leave around noon to head up to my brother's house in Hernando for Thanksgiving. Whole family was going up there this year instead of having it at my parents' house in Madison (that's another long story). Anyway...as I was getting ready to leave, I let him out one more time (I had a friend who was going to come over later and let him out that night and Friday morning). I really watched him this time. I could tell he was a little lethargic. I could tell his urine was a real dark, port red color. Then I decided to take him to the Urgivet in Madison. They ran ultrasound, X-rays, urinalysis, etc. The vet came in with a sample of what I thought was blood, but it was actually my dog's urine. He said it was so bad he wanted to send the urine off for culture to find out what all bacteria was in it. Also said his bladder wall was very thick and inflamed. So he prescribed some anti-inflammatories, antibiotic (amoxicillin), and a liver supplement. He said that once the urine culture came back, they might have to change the antibiotic to something stronger, depending on what type of bacteria it was. They also said we should follow up this week with his primary vet.
We went home, and I started giving him the meds. That went ok for a couple days, although he would start to outsmart me with my methods of administering the pills! The Urgivet called Saturday to check up on him. I said I thought he was acting a little better but that it was getting harder to get him to eat anything and get meds in him. Vet said he's probably got pancreatitis as well and prescribed meds for that and some prescription dog food.
Last time I really could get him to eat anything substantial was probably Sunday. It got super hard to get any meds him the last couple days and wouldn't eat anything or drink much water. I finally took him to his primary vet (Dr. Sturdivant at Gluckstadt Animal Hospital. Great folks there, by the way.) yesterday morning. He called about 9:30 and said that he had pretty severe liver cancer and that I'd have to make a decision about putting him down. Decided that I would wait until today at 4:30 to have it done. I asked them if they would keep him overnight, because there was no way I would be able to take him home for the night only to have to take him back to the vet to have him put down today. Would just be too hard. They said they could board him for the night.
The vet called back about 4:00 yesterday afternoon and said that they weren't sure he would make it through the night and that he was declining by the hour. Asked if I could go ahead and come up there then so we could say goodbyes and go ahead and put him to sleep. Which is what I did. I'm having in cremated instead of burying him out at our pasture with the rest of my family's pets and horses buried through the years. Mainly because I don't want to have to take my dog in a plastic bag, put him in the back of the truck, and bury him in the dark at night. Just didn't seem very dignified or respectful. So I should receive his ashes back in a nice wooden box with a paw print and a tuft his hair next week sometime.
Needless to say, this is the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my entire life. This is actually the first time I've ever had to take a dog and have him put down down myself. It's not easy. It sucks. I'm not a person who even cries at funerals, but I've been bawling like a kid who just shit his pants on the playground since yesterday. It's just something about a dog, man. Dogs are awesome, and we certainly don't deserve them.
Again, I'm sorry for the long, rambling, stream-of-consciousness style post. Just had to get some thoughts off my chest.
RIP Tebow, and Hotty Toddy, RGers.
