I posted a year or so ago that my Beagle, Dash, had been diagnosed with Canine Cushings disease and was given about a year to live. Well, he made it painfree for over two years, although he was completely blind, he made the best of things and was always the most sweet, gentle, loving dog I have ever known.
Cushings causes weight gain , especially around the midsection, but Dash started losing weight late last Spring. In a way, it was a blessing because he was clearly moving more comfortably and,as my daughter said, "able to scratch his own itches". I know he was happy and our main focus was to keep him as comfortable as possible. We moved into a new house 16 months ago and, for the first time, Dash had his own huge, fenced in, secured backyard and we took him off the leash. That was my dream for him, that he have a yard to walk around in and freedom and,boy, did he take advantage of it. It made me happy every time I looked at in the backyard and watched him just "being a dog". His blindness never slowed him down or got him down. He was truly my canine Hero
My prayer for the past two years is that God give Dash the ability to let us know when he was ready, until then, I wasn't giving up on him. Yesterday, he helped me eat my breakfast, as he has done almost every morning for 9 years but he was overly tired, I didn't think much about it. Last night around 5 p.m. I let him outside and noticed he had diarrhea and was bleeding. He went to lay down in the yard and I knew something was wrong. He eventually got up and came back into the house and went to his bed. His human dad gathered him up and we took him to the Emergency Hospital. XRays showed a sizable tumor in his stomach that had twisted and was causing internal bleeding. Vet told us he would not make it through surgery. We made the decision to have him put to sleep and put him out of the pain he was in. We had time to say goodbye, which I am forever grateful for and I knew, without a doubt, he was ready.
My heart is broken and today has been incredibly hard as I went about my morning routine without my sweet boy. That was hard. I choked down a piece of toast with peanut butter on it this morning, the first piece of peanut butter toast I have had to myself in nearly 9 years. I wish he had been here to share it, as always.
I hope posting this isn't against the rules and I understand if Wendy removes it. I just "know" so many of you on here and when he got sick so many of you gave me such comfort and great advice that I felt an update was necessary. It's so hard to lose them.......I was blessed beyond reason to have been loved by this incredible dog. R.I.P. Dash!!