A little over three weeks ago I posted a diary about my sick dog, Marmalade. She's almost 17 and the Saturday after Thanksgiving I was in the vet's office to put her down. Her kidneys have failed and at that time she was pretty miserable. She was drinking gallons of water and peeing all over the house. This was particularly bad when it was on Persian carpets. That Saturday at the vet, however, she was not ready to go. She snarled at the nice man when he tried to get a closer look at her. Even though she is mostly blind, and down to 25 pounds, we decided to go with treatment and kidney-friendly food. She's doing much better, and she may be around for a few more months. I just take it one day at a time, and I'm glad my friend is going to be around a little longer. I was not ready to say goodbye either.
A number of years ago Marmalade was really fat. She had to have surgery for fatty tumors. After that we put her on a prescription diet. Here's what she looked like:
After about nine months she went from 60 pounds to 45 pounds and became much happier:
Now that she's much older, we keep her cut short. It makes her look young. Walking her just last summer people still asked if she was a puppy.
She always wants attention:
Mostly she just lies around:
I hope she's around for a long time, but I know not to allow her to suffer. Thanks to all of you who wrote comments of support last time.
Merry Christmas and Good Luck in the Coming Year. Here's hoping for a year where Peace, Love and Understanding make progress again.