I miss you Mr. Puppy.
Galileo, always one step ahead passed away an hour before his last appointment. I was torn about making the choice, as he hadn't been suffering. He saved me that hard decision. He had been great, but obviously sick up until about 4pm. Still wagging his tail and greeting me at the door. But he hadn't been able to eat, and shortly after 5pm I discovered why - he was no longer able to swallow. While I had hoped it was all thyroid related (he started thyroid meds Monday), odds are there was some brain illness going on as well. GME is probably the most likely. Even though it wasn't a by-the-books, Galileo has never been. Even yesterday he still had the Internal Medicine vet and the neuro. stumped. Only way to know, and not even for sure, was an MRI ($1800) and I couldn't see the point in that. So they started him on the prednisone which they'd use for GME anyway.
This evening, It was sudden, he got sick, then had heavy breathing (probably aspirated into his lungs.) He didn't seem in pain. I was calling the specialist to see what else could be done, I wasn't satisfied with the options. So I called his regular vet about 8pm to schedule a time to come in when my mom could come with me. We settled on between 9 & 930. I called my dad about 8 to let him know what I had decided. At 8:26 I was calling my mom to let her know Galileo was dying on his own, and she rushed over from her meeting. It was peaceful, his breathing slowed. He swallowed a few times. And then he was silent.
Since I had been holding him right before this happened he was laid out on the couch in a comfortable position, the way I had laid him. So my mom said it looked like he was sleeping in the same position he always did on the couch. We took him up to the vet so he could be cremated. Though I never thought I'd make this choice, I chose the route of getting his ashes back in an urn. He'll be coming back home in two weeks.. a piece of him anyway. I clipped a piece of his fur to keep with his collar.
Dondi and Harry got a chance to see him before we took him to the vet. They seemed to know today that something was going to happen, well before I did. It is so quiet here now. I am glad he passed away here and I didn't have to have the guilt of what if it really was something that could be fixed and not the 100pound gorilla of possible brain illness. I'm hurting terribly, but relieved that I didn't have to make the choice not knowing what was wrong and him being relatively young. He was a good dog at doing everything he could to shoulder my fears and burdens.
I'll miss my big boy. He came to live with me 8 years ago last week. People who met him said they had never met a dog with so much personality and his face was full of expression when he did his huge gummy grin. I'll have to find some pictures of that. In the meantime, my camera has been acting up lately, but I managed to shoot a series of 'blurry self-portraits with Galileo' ~two weeks ago...and I have a few scans of pictures from that first week he arrived to be my caretaker. So I'm sharing one of each.
Galileo the first week he was with me. Sept 1999. Probably about 8 months old.
Galileo and me being silly with the camera ~two weeks ago. Sept. 2007.
This evening, It was sudden, he got sick, then had heavy breathing (probably aspirated into his lungs.) He didn't seem in pain. I was calling the specialist to see what else could be done, I wasn't satisfied with the options. So I called his regular vet about 8pm to schedule a time to come in when my mom could come with me. We settled on between 9 & 930. I called my dad about 8 to let him know what I had decided. At 8:26 I was calling my mom to let her know Galileo was dying on his own, and she rushed over from her meeting. It was peaceful, his breathing slowed. He swallowed a few times. And then he was silent.
Since I had been holding him right before this happened he was laid out on the couch in a comfortable position, the way I had laid him. So my mom said it looked like he was sleeping in the same position he always did on the couch. We took him up to the vet so he could be cremated. Though I never thought I'd make this choice, I chose the route of getting his ashes back in an urn. He'll be coming back home in two weeks.. a piece of him anyway. I clipped a piece of his fur to keep with his collar.
Dondi and Harry got a chance to see him before we took him to the vet. They seemed to know today that something was going to happen, well before I did. It is so quiet here now. I am glad he passed away here and I didn't have to have the guilt of what if it really was something that could be fixed and not the 100pound gorilla of possible brain illness. I'm hurting terribly, but relieved that I didn't have to make the choice not knowing what was wrong and him being relatively young. He was a good dog at doing everything he could to shoulder my fears and burdens.
I'll miss my big boy. He came to live with me 8 years ago last week. People who met him said they had never met a dog with so much personality and his face was full of expression when he did his huge gummy grin. I'll have to find some pictures of that. In the meantime, my camera has been acting up lately, but I managed to shoot a series of 'blurry self-portraits with Galileo' ~two weeks ago...and I have a few scans of pictures from that first week he arrived to be my caretaker. So I'm sharing one of each.
Galileo the first week he was with me. Sept 1999. Probably about 8 months old.
Galileo and me being silly with the camera ~two weeks ago. Sept. 2007.