ABCgreys

It's hard. Harder than I imagined it could be. :hugs

We helped our beautful, sweet diva cross the bridge today. She had a soft tissue tumor that had wrapped around the radial nerve in her front leg. The light had gone out of our princess and we made the only decision we could. We got Callie to help Argus with his SA in August, 2002. She had only raced a short time at Southland and had been retired after a string of DQ's for taking off her muzzle in the starting box (clever girl!). Somehow, we were her third home. She'd been returned twice for reasons we never knew. The day she came home, she walked around the house to get her bearings, then stood in our great room looking around. A decision was made and she headed into the master bedroom, jumped up on the bed, and she's been there ever since. The bed will seem very empty now without her sleeping in the middle, legs extended, kicking us when she needed more room. We'll miss you, Boo.

So sorry for you loss.

I'm so sorry, Rachel.

Glad to hear she's doing better today. Argus has stomach issues and we keep pepcid on hand. We also find when he starts to have stomach discomfort, feeding a slice of plain bread causes a nice big burp and helps to relieve some of his troubles.

Xan, I'm so sorry. I don't post much here any more but remember when you got Wabi and all of the wonderful stories about her.

I'm so sorry!

So sorry, Lucy.

So sorry to see this! I know you did the right thing for him and I'm sure the two months he had in your home were wonderful.

Went to the vet this morning and Dr. B. did a needle biopsy. Excellent news! Fatty lump. We just need to keep an eye on it. Phew. My poor old man. All three of my dogs are 2000's (not quite sure how that happened!) and of all of them, he's the only one that seems to be slowing down at all or showing any symptoms of old age. The other two are like a pair of puppies.

Argus was laying in the entry way this afternoon and the light was hitting him just right, and I saw a lump on his chest. Its about the size of a grape, in the "split" area and can't be seen when he's standing up. He had a pain response when I touched it. Obviously, I'm calling the vet first thing tomorrow. Please keep your fingers crossed that it's nothing serious.

Phew! Glad it was good news.

So sorry, Clare!

Rachel, I'm so sorry for your loss.

Hilda, so sorry for your loss!

Yikes. That's a lot of GH's that could potentially be affected. Thanks for all of the kind words. The vet really just comfirmed what we already knew. The no treatment/cure thing is the hardest part. At least we know what we're dealing with and can accommodate the dogs.

We'd noticed some behavioral changes in Argus which led to a trip to the vet. Turns out, he has PRA (Progressive Rentinal Atrophy). He still has vision and is only having problems in dark rooms/hallways and his pupils no longer change with the light - they're dilated all the time. I was just wondering who else has a GH with this? Any words of wisdom you'd care to share? We're still trying to digest that fact that he is going to go blind. Thanks.

Argus update. We took him to the vet, specifically about his vision and he was diagnosed with PRA. He can still see but is having issues in low light, dark rooms, etc.

Hmm. He was at the vets for his check up/shots in November but we've noticed some things like him not meeting me at the door when I get home (can't hear the garage door going up?) and wanting the lights turned on in a room before he goes in (after breakfast all the dogs go back to bed in our room but in different beds - Callie in ours, Butler in Callies or in his crate, and if Butler isn't in Callie's bed, Argus gets in hers). I'll most likely bring him into the vet and have it specifically checked out.

My Argus will be 9 on Friday 01/02/09 (Happy Birthday, Big Boy!) and I was wondering what sorts of signs of aging I can expect to start seeing? Do they start to lose their sight or hearing like humans do? A couple of things recently have led me to wonder whether or not he is seeing and hearing as well as he used to.

Chrissy, I'm just now seeing this. I can't express how sorry I am. Speck was so special.

So sorry, Bev.