Weida's Blog

We had to put Sadie asleep September 13th.  It was a sad day for us.  Less than two weeks prior, we had taken her into the vet because her eye was runny.  The vet said we needed to immediately get her to a doggie opthamalogist.  Didn't even know there was such a thing!  Seeing how it was the Thursday before Labor Day weekend, the two closest opthamalogists (which were at a minimum of 45 minutes away) were out of town.  So after 3 prescriptions, one of which cost $102, we were sent home.  Her eye looked better, and she started acting better so I assumed all was well.  She did appear to be blind in one eye, but she's 10 and we figured that's not so bad as long as she's not in pain.  At the follow-up appointment, we were told to just wait and see.  There was a chance it would become painful again and her eye would be cut out.  Yuck!  But, for now things were looking up.  As the vet was about to leave the room, I mentioned she'd been coughing the last two days.  He seemed concerned and ordered an x-ray.  That's when we saw the tumor in one of her lungs.  He then showed us how labored her breathing  was, and said that she wouldn't last long.  :(

Some days she seemed okay, not quite Sadie.  To be honest, an improved Sadie.  She was much more quiet.  But, at night she would struggle, waking up with coughing fits.  She would eat half her food.  Just when I would decide to make the dreaded appointment, she'd attack Max or go chew on a bone.  So, I kept putting it off.  But, after several days of her not talking to us, we knew it was time before it got too hard on her.  I'm glad we did it when we did because the last day she did not eat a thing.

The kids are fine.  They are quite matter of fact, telling people she died.  They both said they didn't want her to die, but have not shed any tears.  I keep accidentally calling for Max and Sadie or saying "dogs".  Gavin will say, "Silly Mommy.  Sadie's dead."  It's cute, but makes me sad.  It's so much quieter here now.  Jason and I actually miss her.  She drove us crazy, but we do miss her.  I noticed the other day how much more often I have to sweep the floor.  Apparently, Sadie was the one that cleaned up the crumbs.

Max seems fine.  The only time he acts differently is when we leave.  I guess it would be weird to him to be totally left alone.  He's always had Sadie.  He actually howled at us the first time we left him alone.

This was one of our last moments with Sadie.  Miles especially wanted to give her lots of pets.