My beloved boy, Big, is now at the bridge, he was 11 years old. I am almost inconsolable over it.
He was playing in our "big yard", a fenced 1/2 acre behind our house, with some of our friends' dogs when one of them bumped him. I heard a yelp and Big came over to me, limping slightly. When the limping didn't improve we had his vet come to see him (we use a vet with a mobile clinic, so they come to us). She said she thought he may have pulled a ligament in his knee and that we could either see a specialist or just let it more or less heal on its own. She indicated that the injury would form some kind of scar tissue inside and that he would probably always limp a little, but otherwise be okay.
Well, of course, the limp got worse, so we scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. The surgeon initially thought Big may actually have a dislocated hip, because they weren't lining up the way they should, so he took x-rays. You all can probably guess what the results were. One hip bone looked beautiful, all white and perfectly formed. The other one, however, looked like cottage cheese. The doctor said it appeared that when the other dog bumped him, the hip joint actually was compressed against itself. The doctor didn't want to put him through the pain of a biopsy, he was certain it was bone cancer.
We said goodbye that afternoon.
I loved him so much and miss him so and I know he loved me too, but the grief is so overwhelming. If I wasn't already on Prozac I don't know if I could even be coping this "well".
Big was the third Greyhound in our immediate group of friends' hounds to die from cancer this summer. We had only had him for four years. He had been bounced twice before we got him.
Please keep him in your thoughts, he is never out of mine.
Thank you.