Hello Everyone.
I've long forgotten my login and password, so I re-registered.
Our good boy has been with us since he was 10 weeks old. He is now almost 12 years old, with cataracts, trouble going down stairs, a non-reactive gag reflex and trouble eating (he has been always normal weight, but lately skinny.). We really trust our vet. He saw us through the brain tumor and seizures of our previous lab, Emma, and we've followed his advice every step of the way. Our Chester boy now has a chest full of lipomas, and they're spreading to his legs. He also has a mast cell tumor on a paw that he has constantly open and bleeding.
I re-registered here, because you helped me 12 years ago through our Emma's death. I thank you so much. You really helped me when I needed it. I had children at home then, and I'll never forget Emma's last day. She was seizing every day-on a max dose of Pb, and had become incontinent. We knew it was the end, but our children begged us to let her have one last day. I can still see my son's face. We didn't. And that sadness still lingers. We loved her so much!
So when we knew Emma was going to die young (8 y.o.), we got this pup, so she could teach him some good behaviors. She died 9 months after we got him, but I don't think he absorbed any of her wisdom. He was a wonderful terror. His own awesome self!
I'm not thinking euth yet. He's totally functional and in no pain. I just need a community to talk.
He is slow, and needs to be enticed to eat (give him something super tasty and he digs right in!) His eyes are bad, but his hearing is good, and it seems to me that he enjoys every day. His nights are sometimes restless (he sleeps in our bedroom.)
I know he doesn't have long, though everyone probably thinks he's OK, but I know him. When we have company, he still performs all of his usual tricks, and seems good, but I see him afterward when he needs to sleep an entire day to recuperate.
So thank you for accepting me. We're empty-nesters now, and he is even more important to us than Emma was, -if that's possible?
By the way, both dogs, while purebred were adopted. Emma at probably a year and Chester as a surrendered litter, and both neutered early. Both had all total vet care, vaccines, best food and totally inside dogs in the country with plenty of exercise. I think I'm going to need you all, and your advice.
So no one has commented in 48 hours and it has only 4 views. So I'm thinking that this is a dead website. Done.