Date of Death:
We adopted him from MAGSR August 10, 2010 as (MAGSR told us) a 3 yr old, though he’d been a stray so who knows how old, and was known then as Duke. He’d recently been ailing with Degenerative Myelopathy, and Friday started to exhibit a vestibular disorder: he would swing his head around, and couldn’t seem to focus his eyes. When it didn’t resolve overnight, we took him to an animal hospital where the disorder was diagnosed and where he spent the next night. He could not stand up without assistance, and tumbled over when he could get himself up into a crouch. He could only take a few steps even with help on front and read ends, lost interest in eating, stopped urinating on his own. We observed him at home for 2 more days hoping to see improvement, but really there was none. I can’t imagine feeling so dizzy all the time that I can’t stand up. :…(.
I wrote you on the 11th anniversary of his adoption just last month, noting that he chose my husband; It was on a horrifically rainy visit to the kennel to see other possible matches, where his foster mom had brought him for some reason. Love at first sight. No regrets. In his life, he had surgery to remove a discal cyst at University of Pennsylvania, part of his tail amputated, bladder stones removed, some various subcutaneous tumors as well as some porcupine needles removed. He defended our backyard in Delaware from numerous groundhogs (we think he mistook the porcupine here in NH for a groundhog) also treed a bear twice, and generally always took very good care of us, including offering his aid and comfort after my husband’s knee surgeries. In addition to his own surgeries, he got acupuncture, and something called Bi-com treatments, all to his benefit, I guess. He had fans far and wide, including visitors from England and Hungary who asked about him afterwards. Our petsitter kept painting him; we invited her over yesterday just to see him.
We determined to do our best by him, give him every chance and I believe we gave him the best life, and dignity at the end. But the house is so lonely now.
Thank you so much for matching us up!
