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| Last moments. Poor old guy! |
Poor old Dexter. It
has been three weeks since we had to put Dee Dee down, and today we had to make
the hardest decision that it was Dexter’s time to go. Not only has he been lonely all alone without
his BFF, but he has been to the vet twice since Dee Dee was at the vet.
The first time it was for some elderly beagle care – Cutting nails, his
arthritis, and his anal glands needing clearing (my not so favorite thing about him getting old :-/). At this visit, we decided to put him on some
additional medication for his arthritis because his limp has started to show
pretty significantly. He felt
great! Like a puppy again, running and
playing. But unfortunately, he felt so
good that he ended up tearing his ACL in his hind leg. So the second time, we took him in was to see
what our options were. We decided to
attempt to do PT, yes physical therapy on a dog…don’t judge, but two days after the injury, he started
falling. His front shoulder started
hurting from the arthritis again (from overuse to compensate being lame in the
back leg), and he would be walking…and then sitting…and he would sit for a
while then stand up and do it all over again.
Poor thing.
So Andrew and I did the ‘talk’ where we listed all his medical issues
that effected his quality of life, (Eyes, Ears, Teeth, Skin, Liver, Gall
Bladder, Arthritis, and the ACL) and decided that euthanasia was the best, albeit crappy, alternative. PT was going to be expensive (probably around
$1000 in total) and it was about 80% effective.
We figured he had maybe (MAYBE) a year left, and with everything else happening
it was just too much. It was one, if not
the most, difficult decisions I have ever made.
But I think it was the right one.
Our house is so quiet now with no pooches, it will take some getting
used to…but probably at the end of the year, we will get another dog. RIP Dexter, your spunky spirit, licking ‘showers’,
your beagle bay, and your endless hunts for gophers will never be
forgotten.
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