Sad News

Unfortunately, I have some sad news to share.  On Friday, we had to put down our 5 year old dog, Rusty.  He had been really sick, vomitting and diarreha, for about 2 weeks.  We brought him to the vet on Tuesday and without doing tons of tests, they had no clue what was wrong with him and sent us home with some medicine.  Well the medicine helped him hold things down, but he was not eating.  He also went from 29.5 pound last year to 19.3 pounds.  That is a dramatic weight loss for such a small dog.  Since things weren't improving, we transferred his records to an animal hospital for a second opinion.  She was baffled too so we agreed to start doing some tests, x-rays, blood work, heartworm test and lyme disease test.  When they did the x-rays, they noticed that there may be a blockage in his stomach so they wanted to do a barium test to see if it would flow through him.  If not, we agreed to pay $3 to $4 thousand to have surgery to remove the blockage.  That afternoon, we got a call from the doctor saying that the barium made it through him and that surgery was not needed.  Finally, a ray of hope until we got the second phone call.  They tested his blood and they discovered that he had critical kidney failure.  The doctor believed that he has been sick for a long time and possibly had it since birth.  At this stage in his disease, endless amounts of money would not help him and would only extend his life for 3-6 months in enormous amounts of pain.  We could not do that to him.  So unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to our dear friend.

Rusty was a wonderful and sweet dog!  He loved to go camping, kayaking, chasing my husband on his mountain bike and most importantly, he LOVED playing FRISBEE!!!  I'd like to share some pictures of Rusty with you.

My Christmas Present 2005

Playing Frisbee in Wells Beach, ME

Kayaking

Camping

Eating Birthday Cupcakes

Hiking

Singing

Being Goofy

Rusty, we both love you more than anything and we miss you so much!  We could not let you suffer and you deserved better than that out of life.  We had a wonderful life with you even though it was only for 5 short years.  We miss you singing, barking at the pans, chasing squirrels, chasing bikers, sleeping in bed with us and sharing ice cream and popcorn with you.  You are in heaven now with your big brother, Brandy so you are not alone.  You will never be forgotten!  We love you!

Love, Mom & Dad