Good news from commentor William F: A few weeks ago I emailed from NYC with a request to help me find a good home for my dog Richie. I got a few responses from your readers and one of them happened to be the perfect guy for Richie. Thank you for helping him find a good home.
When my wife and started dating, she owned a 147-pound German Shepherd Dog, “Duke.” Duke was an awesome, brilliant dog. He died in August 2006 at age 8 from gastric dilatation and volvulus. 4 months later, we were watching the local all-news cable network New England Cable Network (NECN) when the morning show featured the monthly Boston Animal Rescue League adoption candidate.
__
There she was, thin, scared but alert and clearly with it – Perdie, a shepherd/greyhound/collie mix. She had been in the ARL shelter in Boston for 2 years. This was her last chance. We looked at each other and nodded. It was time to get another dog.
__
We met with her at the ARL shelter. She was skinny, but healthy, and at age 9, just recently spayed. Her previous owners had hit some financial difficulty and had to give her up, we were told. That day, we hung out with her in the shelter’s auditorium (it’s a former elementary school). We put her through her paces: sit, lie down, speak, stay, paw, come – all perfect.
__
We took her home and began to integrate her into our family. Luckily our daughter Kate – a vet tech – was home for Christmas to provide some welcome advice and counsel. Of our 2 cats, Stop-It was the most affected, hiding out in the cellar for 2 months, emerging at night to eat and go out. Eventually my wife, Roze, put her territorial foot down with Perdie and made it clear that in this house, the female HUMAN was the leader of the cats, not Perdie. And things were great from then on.
__
We knew going in that at 9 years old and eventually 55-60 pounds that Perdie would be a part of our family for 4-5 years at best. But that was OK with us. We were moved, and Perdie has proven to be a wonderful pet and companion. Stubborn, quirky, but loving and loyal.
__
On Thursday, Feb. 24, our son called to say he thought Perdie was having a stroke. Turns to have been the first of 5 seizures over the next 24 hours. The vet says most likely a brain tumor, meningioma. She’s on phenobarbital, and seizure-free since then. But clearly this is the beginning of the end for our poor old gal. She has moments of lucidity through the drug haze, and can still walk – albeit slowly and shakily – eat, and is still mostly house-continent.
__
Prognosis is 2-4 months, according to Teh Google. The cats, Storm and Stop-It, act as her escorts as she paces around the house, and when we walk outside. Every once in a while she’ll walk up to us and look at us with recognition and the smile you see in the attached pic. She’s not in pain. We know we’ll have to say good-bye soon, but not quite yet. Our mission was to give her a good quality of life for whatever time she had left starting on that day in 2006. And here we are 4.5 years later, mission accomplished, but not one we’re eager to see end.
Early Morning Open Thread: Dogs of A Certain AgePost + Comments (22)