nrc
08-30-22, 11:30 PM
Last night we had to let our 14 year old Manchester, Hyde go. He was a good boy.
We adopted Hyde at the age of two so. Our Manchesters have been long lived so even 12 happy years with him seems too short. Hyde was a dog's dog and a people dog all at once. He loved people and dogs unless they came around without permission. He was a destroyer of vermin of all kinds. Mice, raccoons, gophers and opossums all felt his wrath. He would have been a champion in the rat pits of his ancestors.
Here is Hyde with his grand puppies that we adopted, Cooper and Arya back in 2012.
1163
Hyde was diagnosed with a heart murmur a while back but it never seemed to slow him down. But lately he had declined pretty rapidly. He had trouble eating, was losing weight, and his mobility was declining. Last week our vet ran a blood test and his numbers were all over map. An ultrasound Monday revealed fluid around the heart, an enlarged spleen, and probably a lyphoma. With all these issues we ruled out aggressive treatment that would probably just ruin the quality of his remaining time, but we hoped that steroids might improve things for him until the time came.
Sadly the time came later that night when he collapsed and was unresponsive with no breathing or pulse for a minute or so before he gasped for air a few times and regained consciousness. We took him to the vet ER and they said that it was likely a cardiac event. The only real treatment option in his condition was to leave him overnight so they could stabilize him and then palliative care. We considered the options and it was clear that the hope for return to a good quality of life was no longer there. And the possibility that he might die alone if we left him for treatment was not acceptable.
They have a nice comfortable room with a couch where he naturally drifted off to sleep in our lap before the vet came in and provided his final release from earthly pain.
We miss him so much already, but that's the price we pay for all the love and joy they bring to our lives. Arya, Cooper, and cousin Dori patrol the yard now in his stead. He taught them well and he lives on in them and and in our hearts.
Hug your pets.
We adopted Hyde at the age of two so. Our Manchesters have been long lived so even 12 happy years with him seems too short. Hyde was a dog's dog and a people dog all at once. He loved people and dogs unless they came around without permission. He was a destroyer of vermin of all kinds. Mice, raccoons, gophers and opossums all felt his wrath. He would have been a champion in the rat pits of his ancestors.
Here is Hyde with his grand puppies that we adopted, Cooper and Arya back in 2012.
1163
Hyde was diagnosed with a heart murmur a while back but it never seemed to slow him down. But lately he had declined pretty rapidly. He had trouble eating, was losing weight, and his mobility was declining. Last week our vet ran a blood test and his numbers were all over map. An ultrasound Monday revealed fluid around the heart, an enlarged spleen, and probably a lyphoma. With all these issues we ruled out aggressive treatment that would probably just ruin the quality of his remaining time, but we hoped that steroids might improve things for him until the time came.
Sadly the time came later that night when he collapsed and was unresponsive with no breathing or pulse for a minute or so before he gasped for air a few times and regained consciousness. We took him to the vet ER and they said that it was likely a cardiac event. The only real treatment option in his condition was to leave him overnight so they could stabilize him and then palliative care. We considered the options and it was clear that the hope for return to a good quality of life was no longer there. And the possibility that he might die alone if we left him for treatment was not acceptable.
They have a nice comfortable room with a couch where he naturally drifted off to sleep in our lap before the vet came in and provided his final release from earthly pain.
We miss him so much already, but that's the price we pay for all the love and joy they bring to our lives. Arya, Cooper, and cousin Dori patrol the yard now in his stead. He taught them well and he lives on in them and and in our hearts.
Hug your pets.