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On My Terms! The diary of a single-minded dog.

Wishes for Barney

We wish we could have told you
In words you'd understand
We wanted you to stay with us
This wasn't what we planned

We wish somehow to tell you
How empty we now feel
A part of us went with you
A part that time can't heal

We wish once more to hear you
Just give out one of your barks
Or to hold you in our arms again
Or take you round your parks

We wish we had you back again
To fill this empty space
But one day we'll be together
In a far far better place

Barney - On His Own Terms - RIP

Barney, our wonderful little man, is gone.

We took him tonight to a new vet for a second opinion about his immediate diagnosis of diabetes, the way he has been since treatment began, and a general prognosis in the context of his overall condition.

The news was not good. In addition to the diabetes, he almost certainly had Cushings disease which, in all likelihood, was interfering with the insulin, rendering it ineffective. The vet was very honest and straight with us. She said that to continue trying to establish his full condition and determine what was needed to control the diabetes, would have involved many tests over a two month period (possibly more), at the end of which there was no guarantee of an accurate diagnosis.

Even then, assuming a course of treatment could be found that would work against all of his ailments, we would have been looking at most at a few more months, during which his quality of life would not have been good. In short, it was too little, too late.

In the end, the decision was not a hard one to make for him, just a painful one for us. Barney is now at peace, and reunited with Shannon - his one true love - at Rainbow Ridge with all the other dogs.

Goodnight, and God Bless you, Barney Rubble. You were our one and only, loved and never to be forgotten.

Thursday 6 September 2007.

To everyone

Our sincere thanks to everyone who has sent messages of love and support to Barney. We really have been overwhelmed by them. We've tried to reply to each one personally, but there were so many, it's been an impossible task, especially when we're still finding our way with his illness, and building a regime to deal with it.

So this message is a big THANK YOU for all of you who we haven't been able to reply to personally.