Four and a half years ago we brought home a tiny, wiggly, chubby-tummied puppy. He was so full of mischief and personality and curiosity and energy. We bought him to replace a service dog for one of our daughters, so as you can imagine, this puppy was so much more than just a pet.
From the beginning, this little guy (my daughter named him Arendale, nicknamed Duppy) struggled with chronic diarrhea. For two years solid we were at the vet for every six to eight weeks, no one seemed to be able to unravel the mystery of it. Meanwhile, he lost weight and yet ate with an ever-increasing urgency to the point of choking. We actually had to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him twice, he choked and almost died.
Finally, on a weekend in February - actually a few days before he turned two, we went to a new vet. They thought to do a set of x-rays, and to everyone's surprise he had twenty-four pony tale holders and two bottle caps in his tummy. We were shocked. He was always in a kennel when we left the house, we homeschool, so he was always right with us - not that he couldn't have swiped a few things without us noticing, but twenty-four pony tale holders??? Later, when we brought him home with his after surgery-cone, we discovered that he had been letting himself out of his kennel. Only he couldn't quite be as quiet and sneaky with that big cone on 😁.
He had about six months or so of no vet visits, no emergencies - he could just enjoy being the puppy.
Then he started having seizures. What felt like an especially cruel blow is that he belonged to our daughter that also has epilepsy.
I have posted several times here about the constant up and down, the trips to the vet, the changes and increases in meds, the two stints in puppy ICU...
This morning he started seizing again. So, we made the excruciating decision to proceed with end of life care. I am absolutely devastated. I loved this little guy so, so much. I have never, ever had to put a dog down, they have always just died - this was/is a gut-wrenching decision. These dogs - they truly become your best friends.
This afternoon, I was so upset and questioning and praying - asking God to comfort me, reassure me. About five minutes later, the doorbell rang. Our vet office sent us a gorgeous boquet of flowers, and a card.
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