The past few weeks have been rough for us.
We learned on Friday, November 20th that Rudee is dying. It all started the day before when I noticed how distended and uncomfortable his stomach looked. I thought bloat (maybe he ate Jeanie's AND his food?) so I took him to the emergency vet right away. (Bloat is like colic in horses, the stomach fills with gas and then twists, and can be fatal if not caught early) BTW - if you live in Vancouver, stay away from a certain vet named after a certain patron saint of animals. Just fair warning. After being told that it was NOT bloat, and the vet trying to tell me that he knew it all along, that it is just gas, and he (the vet) was amazing because once he diagnosed bloat without the stomach even having turned yet......(Yes, seriously, he was bragging to me about his diagnosing skills.....somewhat ironic) I was charged $155 bucks and told to give him Mylanta.
Friday morning rolled around, and after 3 rounds of Mylanta, Rudee's tummy was just as big and uncomfortable. He couldn't lay comfortably. By this point, I knew that if it was bloat, we were going to have to go in to surgery to get it fixed. So thankfully I have a wonderful staff at school who saw how worried I was and told me to go home and get him to a vet. Ryan was able to leave work and we drove Rudee bear out to OUR vet in Washougal. After spending MORE than 5 seconds with Rudee (I love our vet) the vet was able to hear some problems in the area of his lungs and heart. The whole time this as been going on, Rudee has been showing various kinds of twitching. We told her about that, but I'm not sure it registered until they tried to get him up on the xray table and he started loosing muscle control in his legs and face. Scary stuff.
After the xray machine fiasco, they let us hang out in the room until they processed the film of his stomach and lungs. The vet walked back in the room and sighed. That is NEVER a good sign. She showed us the xray of his stomach area. She showed us the grey part, and said that it was fluid, NOT gaseous and that it was hard to get the two mixed up. The reason there was so much fluid was revealed by the next xray. She put up the xray of his lungs and all we could see was black. She then explained that the entire mass was cancer. The fluid making his stomach distended was from the cancer cells. There were several more minutes of questions, but it all boiled down to the fact that we only had weeks left with our bear dog.
After a somber ride home and some (a lot of) tears, we decided to make however much time Rudee had left amazing. And that is what we have been doing the last few weeks. He has been getting treats every day, car rides, walks, scraps from the table, and pretty much anything a puppy could want. That first weekend we were able to have some friends over to take pictures of us with him, and some of those are below. We also were able to take him to the beach on the Oregon Coast. Both he and Jeanie LOVE the beach, so it seemed like something nice we could do. The good news so far is that the meds we were given to help him really have helped. His stomach area is no longer distended, he seems happy to see us again, and is eating just fine. Lets hope this keeps up for as long as possible.
As far as Thanksgiving goes, we spent a quiet day at home, cleaning and watching movies while the Prime rib cooked.
Our Thanksgiving dinner. And yes mom, that bowl of olives started the evening full. I know now why you always waited as long as we would let you before putting out the relish dish.
I think we have been giving thanks for every day we have with Rudee this past week, and will continue to do so for as long as possible. This is one year when I hope Thanksgiving will last long after Christmas!! A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all of you reading this, and wishing you a very Merry Christmas Season! We love you!
The above pictures were taken by our wonderful friend Amanda. Thank you!
These are some I took. Rudee does this thing we call "frog dog" and he hadn't been doing it very much, we think because his stomach felt uncomfortable, but then he did it for us! And I had to take a picture. :)
Rudee and Ryan on the beach. :)
It was a beautiful evening to be at the beach, and all of us were grateful for it!
We learned on Friday, November 20th that Rudee is dying. It all started the day before when I noticed how distended and uncomfortable his stomach looked. I thought bloat (maybe he ate Jeanie's AND his food?) so I took him to the emergency vet right away. (Bloat is like colic in horses, the stomach fills with gas and then twists, and can be fatal if not caught early) BTW - if you live in Vancouver, stay away from a certain vet named after a certain patron saint of animals. Just fair warning. After being told that it was NOT bloat, and the vet trying to tell me that he knew it all along, that it is just gas, and he (the vet) was amazing because once he diagnosed bloat without the stomach even having turned yet......(Yes, seriously, he was bragging to me about his diagnosing skills.....somewhat ironic) I was charged $155 bucks and told to give him Mylanta.
Friday morning rolled around, and after 3 rounds of Mylanta, Rudee's tummy was just as big and uncomfortable. He couldn't lay comfortably. By this point, I knew that if it was bloat, we were going to have to go in to surgery to get it fixed. So thankfully I have a wonderful staff at school who saw how worried I was and told me to go home and get him to a vet. Ryan was able to leave work and we drove Rudee bear out to OUR vet in Washougal. After spending MORE than 5 seconds with Rudee (I love our vet) the vet was able to hear some problems in the area of his lungs and heart. The whole time this as been going on, Rudee has been showing various kinds of twitching. We told her about that, but I'm not sure it registered until they tried to get him up on the xray table and he started loosing muscle control in his legs and face. Scary stuff.
After the xray machine fiasco, they let us hang out in the room until they processed the film of his stomach and lungs. The vet walked back in the room and sighed. That is NEVER a good sign. She showed us the xray of his stomach area. She showed us the grey part, and said that it was fluid, NOT gaseous and that it was hard to get the two mixed up. The reason there was so much fluid was revealed by the next xray. She put up the xray of his lungs and all we could see was black. She then explained that the entire mass was cancer. The fluid making his stomach distended was from the cancer cells. There were several more minutes of questions, but it all boiled down to the fact that we only had weeks left with our bear dog.
After a somber ride home and some (a lot of) tears, we decided to make however much time Rudee had left amazing. And that is what we have been doing the last few weeks. He has been getting treats every day, car rides, walks, scraps from the table, and pretty much anything a puppy could want. That first weekend we were able to have some friends over to take pictures of us with him, and some of those are below. We also were able to take him to the beach on the Oregon Coast. Both he and Jeanie LOVE the beach, so it seemed like something nice we could do. The good news so far is that the meds we were given to help him really have helped. His stomach area is no longer distended, he seems happy to see us again, and is eating just fine. Lets hope this keeps up for as long as possible.
As far as Thanksgiving goes, we spent a quiet day at home, cleaning and watching movies while the Prime rib cooked.
Our Thanksgiving dinner. And yes mom, that bowl of olives started the evening full. I know now why you always waited as long as we would let you before putting out the relish dish.
I think we have been giving thanks for every day we have with Rudee this past week, and will continue to do so for as long as possible. This is one year when I hope Thanksgiving will last long after Christmas!! A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all of you reading this, and wishing you a very Merry Christmas Season! We love you!
The above pictures were taken by our wonderful friend Amanda. Thank you!
These are some I took. Rudee does this thing we call "frog dog" and he hadn't been doing it very much, we think because his stomach felt uncomfortable, but then he did it for us! And I had to take a picture. :)
Rudee and Ryan on the beach. :)
It was a beautiful evening to be at the beach, and all of us were grateful for it!
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