Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Happy new year all.i hope the best for each of you.christmas was hard here as well with no boomer.he really made the holiday special as he too acted like a toddler so excited to open his presents.well i just wanted to send my heartfelt thoughts and prayers to each of you as you were all so kind to me during one of the most difficult times in my life.take care
Been awhile since I posted. Been eight months since I lost my buddy Hogan. Still can't look at his pictures too long w/o tearing up. So I avoid looking. Like many here this was the first Xmas without our beloved buddy.
Very tough time.. I have not reached the point where my memories bring smiles to my face. We do have another dog now but he is not doing it for me.
I wish only the best to you all and hope for a much better New Year...
I am sorry to hear that you are still having such a difficult time with Hogan's death. I hope you are not feeling gulity in any way as you did what you could and are not at all to blame for his death.
My sister had a very hard time after her collie Rusty had to be put to sleep at 16 and alot of it was she felt guilty as she was not sure it really was time. It took her years to get another dog . She tends to compare the new dog with Rusty and she will never be good enough as in her memories Rusty was always the perfect dog... which by the way was not true as I remember how angry she would get at him when he was young and misbehaving like young dogs do. The new dog is young and with time she will settle down but my sister does not seem to see that.I keep telling her to let go of Rusty and not compare Bailey to him as she will never be Rusty but she will be her own unique self.My sister will not be able to love that unique dog until she lets go of Rusty.
My sister must find me hard to understand as I was up visiting her a not quite month after I put Dash down and was all smiles when I talked about him. The day I put him down I let him go and just the mention of his name floods my brain with so many happy memories how can I not smile? We all grieve in our own way and for however long it takes us, but I think often a person feels guilt over the death and that traps them in their grief and robs them of those great smile inducing memories.Do I miss Dash.. you bet I do but to me Dash lives on and will forever in my memories of him until I get dementia that is!
It is hard for some to let go but until you do those memories will probably bring more pain then smiles and I am sure your dog would rather have you smiling and being happy with a new dog then not.
In 3 years I lost my mom, my 20 yr old neice and Dash and yes all 3 of them bring smiles to my face which is how they would all want it to be but it does not mean I do not miss them or that I am disloyal to them,There will always be a hole in my heart caused by the death of each one of them. but the warmth and happiness of the memories of them is so much stronger and keeps them alive for me.
I hope 2010 is a time of healing for those that have suffered loss this past year. May it be a better year for all. Jan
Hogan, I was wondering how you were doing- as well as everyone else here who lost a beloved friend. Dash, Boomer, so many more. holidays seem worse for some reason. Oscar will be gone 3 years this April, and still Christmas is tough. He would open his presents like a wild man and it was fun to watch. Kramer and Felix aren't quite as good at it! I have pictures of Oscar's last Xmas of him going berserk ripping things open. we didn't know then he would be gone a few months later. He acted like a pup on xmas eve, I cherish that memory. he was 13 but seemed so young and happy that night.
I know how you feel about the "new" dog. give it time tho- a new and different relationship will develop. it will never be the one you had with Hogan tho. he was special and rightly so. but somehow based on the words you wrote so well about Hogan and taking such good care of him, I have a feeling there's room in your heart for the newest one
I hope people still use this site. I have been reading alot of the entries for the past hour. I am sorry for everyone that lost their beloved pet or are going through this horrible cancer.
My 12 year old lab, Buddy, who I have had since he was 6 weeks old, has been having pink discharge from his nose for the last month and the backwards sneezing. A week ago he developed a bump on the bridge of his nose, we took him to the vet yesterday. We are still waiting the results from the biopsy. I can only hope for the best, but after reading alot of posts I realize the outcome will probably be grim. I read a couple of people who said that eventually they will bleed out and pass peacefully. I didn't get to anyone who had had that happen and was wondering if that were true? It sounds painful to me.
I want him to live without pain, which he seems to be doing now, but I want him around as long as possible. (I didn't mention we just had to put our Mindy down two weeks ago). I am still dealing with that and I don't think I can handle losing another one of my "babies".
I don't think nose bleeds are painful as Dash never acted bothered when he had one. His oncologist said that death from bleeding out is rare. What happens really depends on where in the sinuses the cancer is located and if it has spread.Sometimes the cancer will spread to the brain or to the lungs. If the bump on the bridge of his nose is like Dash's the cancer is taking the path of least resistance and growing outward and that bump will become a huge swelling which is why I posted photos of Dash and his swelling several times in this thread. There are ones on another page that were when his got huge. What then happens people put the animal down or the swelling actually opens up like Dash's did and it is quite gross as it is a huge pocket of pus and infection.
Dash's cancer was found early long before there was any outward swelling that only came at the end and could also have been due to the neoplasene nose drops we were using as it causes the tumor to swell and die. Inside a nasal cavity it could then be trapped and become a source of infection. I will never know which it was, the live cancer trying to eat its way out or a dead tumor causing a huge pocket of infection which ate its way out but it really did not matter as try as we did we could not get that infection to heal so I had to put him down. He actually seemed unbothered by everything and acted like himself. I think some dogs like people give up but he was a fighter up until it became too obvious we could never get ahead of the infection. When I made my decision it was like he made the same one .
I will pray that Buddy has a grass seed of some type up his nose or just some sort of infection and not cancer. If it is cancer the vet can give you some tramadol for pain control of even the perixocam which with its antiangiogenesis properties can slow some cancers down and does help with pain too. Let us know what you find out as people here are very supportive and feel free to ask as many questions as you want . Sorry to hear about your loss of Mindy. It doesn't seem fair that now you have to deal with what may be cancer in Buddy but as many of us know too well life is not fair. Jan
We did get the results back and it is not what we were hoping for. He definently has cancer and it is invasive and aggressive. The vet said he has maybe a month or two. That is the worst news, although somehow I knew what it was. Now that it is offical it is really hard. I am on my way to pick up his prednisone and pain medicine now. I am keeping hope that those will slow the cancer down and give us more time with him. I am selfishly wanting to keep him as long as possible, but I don't want him to have any pain.
Buddy is not showing any signs of pain or disstress. He was out chasing a ball last night. We will enjoy all the time left with him and keep him happy.
thanks again for the reply. I am really happy to have found this blog, it helps to know there are people out there that know what I am going through.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,013,815 times
Reputation: 28903
Quote:
Originally Posted by Buddy's Mom
thank you for the reply and the support.
We did get the results back and it is not what we were hoping for. He definently has cancer and it is invasive and aggressive. The vet said he has maybe a month or two. That is the worst news, although somehow I knew what it was. Now that it is offical it is really hard. I am on my way to pick up his prednisone and pain medicine now. I am keeping hope that those will slow the cancer down and give us more time with him. I am selfishly wanting to keep him as long as possible, but I don't want him to have any pain.
Buddy is not showing any signs of pain or disstress. He was out chasing a ball last night. We will enjoy all the time left with him and keep him happy.
thanks again for the reply. I am really happy to have found this blog, it helps to know there are people out there that know what I am going through.
Talk to you all soon.
I'm so sorry! I've never gone through anything like this with my dog, so I have no knowledge or insight to impart to you... All I've got to send your way are virtual hugs and the hope that you know that we're all cheering you and Buddy on.
do not let the vet tell you how long buddy has to live. many of the dogs on this thread have survived longer even without treatment. have you investigated some sort of palliative radiation that may slow the growth of the tumor? is there a veterinary cancer center near where you live?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
