- Location
- Piemonte, Italy.
I am probably on the wrong thread but I can't quite bring myself to post on Rainbow Bridge just yet.
I came to MLF because my old Collie (Bess) with extensive arthritis as well as her dodgy pancreas had had an amazingly positive response to Librela - I did not think we would get her through the Winter because her movement was so bad and I wanted to share the impact this amazing treatment had had on her.
I think it gave me a lull in what had turned into my full time worry about her - also, one of our Cane Corso's (Athena) had a splenectomy and the biopsy had come back positive for liver cancer. My focus was diverted to Athena while she recovered as we had to watch for internal bleeding.
You know when you look back and know your dog was trying to tell you something and you thought they just wanted a cuddle or some bally ? Well Bess had been doing that for a week or so, still eating and doing all her usual stuff, still moving great. She's always covered pain up really well, very stoic. If I had noticed anything last week it was that it was taking her longer to get through her food. Knowing this could be a warning symptom that a pancreas flare was on the way (we have got through two huge episodes before), I went back to my full time scrutiny of everything she did, including poo watch !
Saturday morning, she did not actually finish her food - red flag, off we went, straight to the vet.
Check up, blood test, scans followed and the x-rays showed her stomach had swollen up hugely - it literally looked like a massive grapefruit. My vets got great instincts and she felt sure without the blood results back from the external lab that it was her pancreas and started treating her accordingly. She was x-rayed Monday morning and her stomach was back to normal - result !! We continued to treat her for a pancreas flare because we know she is susceptible
Today, Bess stopped being able to walk - the lethargy has overwhelmed her and her body cannot manage the pancreatic flare. She is in pain.
She is a dog that has always had to be free - free to move, free to do what she chooses, to feel alive. She is not a dog that can fade away, sitting in a bed, content to just be awake and with us. Plenty other of our 8 dogs can do exactly that without being ill - just not her.
So the time has come and tomorrow she is being put to sleep.
And my heart is breaking. She is and always will be, my Best Bess.
So I came here where people understand.
I came to MLF because my old Collie (Bess) with extensive arthritis as well as her dodgy pancreas had had an amazingly positive response to Librela - I did not think we would get her through the Winter because her movement was so bad and I wanted to share the impact this amazing treatment had had on her.
I think it gave me a lull in what had turned into my full time worry about her - also, one of our Cane Corso's (Athena) had a splenectomy and the biopsy had come back positive for liver cancer. My focus was diverted to Athena while she recovered as we had to watch for internal bleeding.
You know when you look back and know your dog was trying to tell you something and you thought they just wanted a cuddle or some bally ? Well Bess had been doing that for a week or so, still eating and doing all her usual stuff, still moving great. She's always covered pain up really well, very stoic. If I had noticed anything last week it was that it was taking her longer to get through her food. Knowing this could be a warning symptom that a pancreas flare was on the way (we have got through two huge episodes before), I went back to my full time scrutiny of everything she did, including poo watch !
Saturday morning, she did not actually finish her food - red flag, off we went, straight to the vet.
Check up, blood test, scans followed and the x-rays showed her stomach had swollen up hugely - it literally looked like a massive grapefruit. My vets got great instincts and she felt sure without the blood results back from the external lab that it was her pancreas and started treating her accordingly. She was x-rayed Monday morning and her stomach was back to normal - result !! We continued to treat her for a pancreas flare because we know she is susceptible
Today, Bess stopped being able to walk - the lethargy has overwhelmed her and her body cannot manage the pancreatic flare. She is in pain.
She is a dog that has always had to be free - free to move, free to do what she chooses, to feel alive. She is not a dog that can fade away, sitting in a bed, content to just be awake and with us. Plenty other of our 8 dogs can do exactly that without being ill - just not her.
So the time has come and tomorrow she is being put to sleep.
And my heart is breaking. She is and always will be, my Best Bess.
So I came here where people understand.
