 Barked: Wed Nov 16, '11 7:10pm PST |
 | |  | | Khloe went to the Rainbow Bridge Saturday morning.
He became sick in October - he stopped eating (unless we mixed wet food or yogurt in with his kibble, which was odd because we'd recently switched him to Orijen, which he LOVED more than any other kibble he'd ever had) and was a bit more sleepy than usual. He had bloodwork done that showed he was hypercalcemic.
He was on high doses of lasix and prednisone to flush his system for a week (it made him eat like a pig), and when his bloodwork was redone his calcium levels were back to normal. We started to wean him off the medicine... He became sick again, worse than before - he was lethargic, stumbling, vomiting bile, & was dehydrated and not eating. We took him to the emergency vet where they ran tests and gave him fluids overnight. He didn't respond to the medicine they gave him there, his calcium was continuing to rise (to the point the tests couldn't read how high the levels were). He ate a little at the e-vet's and held it down, so we took him home the night after we checked him in while a test was sent out to check for hyperparathyroidism (which we were really hoping for - by this point the possible causes were narrowed down to cancer or hpt).
We convinced him to eat some chicken and rice the next morning, but he wasn't doing well. A week later he was doing even worse... he started vomiting again and wouldn't eat anything we cooked for him, I'd been force feeding him for days. He was very weak... I had to help him to bed, I'd never had to before. He was crying (softly, but it was near constantly - until his final night when he finally managed to get comfortable on the couch and fell asleep snoring, something he also never did). We called the vet several times on Friday trying to find out about his test results. When they finally got back to us, we were given the news that he had cancer.
I made the decision to let him go. We had no idea where the cancer was, we were given told the next step would to have an ultrasound performed, but he was suffering and going downhill fast, and I felt that he would be too weak for treatment if we did find the cancer. I keep feeling like we could've done more, but then I look at those pictures of his last night and his last car ride to the vet and he was obviously suffering...
Everyone who could make it to the vet to say goodbye did. He was really loved... we all crowded into the room to say our goodbyes. Everyone left when he was given the injection except me and my father. He reached his head toward me and whined... I held him until he passed and stayed a long while after he was gone. It was horrible, but everyone keeps telling me I did the right thing...
He was my baby, my best friend. I was "his girl", his momma. He was always there protecting me (mostly from things I didn't need to be protected from, but...) Through all the counseling and medications I've had for my depression, he was the most helpful. He was my reason for getting up in the mornings most days, the reason I got out of the house and started feeling better. He helped me through a lot of tough times... I'll always be grateful for that. I wish I could've done more to help him...
Rest in peace, Baa Baa. I love you. |  |  | |  |
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Nothing abnormal on the x-rays, either. So now I just have to keep an eye on him while we taper him off the medicine.
