As I'm sitting here watching my beloved faithful pup dose on and off. I can't stop tearing and sobbing throughout the day knowing his time is extremely short. I've got a vet visit in the morning with him to check on his weight and see how he's doing. He's been having nose bleeds the last 8 weeks on and off. He got a biopsy and a CT scan to confirm he's got a tumor growth of the nasal passage. They told me it was inconclusive. They couldn't get a proper sample, only thing they can identify is inflammatory cells. Said, they could put him under again to obtain a better sample. I am not going to risk it.
He's a beautiful golden at a young age of 11. His name is Scout. Sometimes we call him Scout Beast, because he's such a beast. So full of life and nothing he would try to eat. Master thief when it comes to food. Over the years, we've learned to keep stuff way high to keep him safe. He's great at hand shakes.
He's been battling nasel carcinoma (we believe) and the growth has been kept in check with prednisone. He is on tramadol / and carprofin (dropped as soon as we went to prednisone) for his degenerative spine which he's dealt with the last 12 months. We've added an herbal component to his regiment. He's been having a tough time doing his favorite thing, eating. Because of the lack of smell, even a raw diet is unappealing. For some reason, he's still working throughout the day on his grain free kibble. He'll snack on it when he can.
His behavior has slightly altered. He's still pretty alert, but he's sleeping away from us lately. Normally, he's on my side at the foot of the bed. Sometimes, he might roam to my wife's side.
Today, I took him on a walk around the neighborhood. He was kinda fearful after awhile and lost his footing twice. I'll see if he wants to go again tomorrow but he was glad to go into the garage. Normally he would be pulling me to go out.
The growth is slightly blocking his view on his left side.
He's been a faith companion since we first brought him home. He has so much love to give and ask for nothing in return. He's been excellent with the kids and watched over them diligently throughout the years. We've traveled over 2500 miles on the move and he took the car ride like a champ.
He hasn't found a snow patch he didn't love diving in.
He's never ran off when he escapes from the yard when he was younger. He's always sits on the fronts steps to be let in. He hates being alone. He's like my shadow. Sleeps at the side my bed.
He's been struggling to sleep lately because his breathing is keeping him up. He's tired. He sleeps a bit and pops back up to breath and then sleeps again.
He's got good day and hard days.
All his doctors have been great. We've been treated like family throughout this ordeal.
I won't do radiation or chemo because I don't want his last days to be in pain and agony just because we can extend his life. So we're keeping him comfortable and loved as much as possible.
I do know he would gladly do it just to stay with us. He's that type of friend.
Getting him to take meds is becoming difficult but we think we might have cracked that. He's started to do his usual begging at the dinner table again the last day or so. We've been able to hand feed him some food we set aside just for him with his meds in it. Let's hope he hasn't caught on.
His current regiment is;
Prednisone twice a day. We've noticed an uptick in his water consumption. We've also noticed his back legs are getting weaker.
Tramadol twice a day. He's been taking that for his back.
Chlorpheniramine twice a day. Hoping to keep the histamine in check. He snout and face swelled up recently and the vet told us to goto the local pharamacy to pick that up.
Azithromycin twice a week incase of infection.
For his nose bleeds - we've started him on Yun Nan Bai Yao. Two pills twice a day. We believe it's slowed things down. He still has a lot of mucus discharge, but we just wipe it for him.
He loves his K9 Immunity Plus. Three in the morning and three in the evening.
He gets something called Bone Renewal due to bone loss in his nose due to the tumor.
When he's willing to take it, he gets CoQ10. Boost his natural immunity.
On his bad days, we struggle to give him just his western medicine. On his good days we can get him to take his eastern medicine too.
I want to do what's best for him but every day I feel even more helpless with caring for him.
edit to add - my appologies on being a long time reader and first time poster.
He's a beautiful golden at a young age of 11. His name is Scout. Sometimes we call him Scout Beast, because he's such a beast. So full of life and nothing he would try to eat. Master thief when it comes to food. Over the years, we've learned to keep stuff way high to keep him safe. He's great at hand shakes.
He's been battling nasel carcinoma (we believe) and the growth has been kept in check with prednisone. He is on tramadol / and carprofin (dropped as soon as we went to prednisone) for his degenerative spine which he's dealt with the last 12 months. We've added an herbal component to his regiment. He's been having a tough time doing his favorite thing, eating. Because of the lack of smell, even a raw diet is unappealing. For some reason, he's still working throughout the day on his grain free kibble. He'll snack on it when he can.
His behavior has slightly altered. He's still pretty alert, but he's sleeping away from us lately. Normally, he's on my side at the foot of the bed. Sometimes, he might roam to my wife's side.
Today, I took him on a walk around the neighborhood. He was kinda fearful after awhile and lost his footing twice. I'll see if he wants to go again tomorrow but he was glad to go into the garage. Normally he would be pulling me to go out.
The growth is slightly blocking his view on his left side.
He's been a faith companion since we first brought him home. He has so much love to give and ask for nothing in return. He's been excellent with the kids and watched over them diligently throughout the years. We've traveled over 2500 miles on the move and he took the car ride like a champ.
He hasn't found a snow patch he didn't love diving in.
He's never ran off when he escapes from the yard when he was younger. He's always sits on the fronts steps to be let in. He hates being alone. He's like my shadow. Sleeps at the side my bed.
He's been struggling to sleep lately because his breathing is keeping him up. He's tired. He sleeps a bit and pops back up to breath and then sleeps again.
He's got good day and hard days.
All his doctors have been great. We've been treated like family throughout this ordeal.
I won't do radiation or chemo because I don't want his last days to be in pain and agony just because we can extend his life. So we're keeping him comfortable and loved as much as possible.
I do know he would gladly do it just to stay with us. He's that type of friend.
Getting him to take meds is becoming difficult but we think we might have cracked that. He's started to do his usual begging at the dinner table again the last day or so. We've been able to hand feed him some food we set aside just for him with his meds in it. Let's hope he hasn't caught on.
His current regiment is;
Prednisone twice a day. We've noticed an uptick in his water consumption. We've also noticed his back legs are getting weaker.
Tramadol twice a day. He's been taking that for his back.
Chlorpheniramine twice a day. Hoping to keep the histamine in check. He snout and face swelled up recently and the vet told us to goto the local pharamacy to pick that up.
Azithromycin twice a week incase of infection.
For his nose bleeds - we've started him on Yun Nan Bai Yao. Two pills twice a day. We believe it's slowed things down. He still has a lot of mucus discharge, but we just wipe it for him.
He loves his K9 Immunity Plus. Three in the morning and three in the evening.
He gets something called Bone Renewal due to bone loss in his nose due to the tumor.
When he's willing to take it, he gets CoQ10. Boost his natural immunity.
On his bad days, we struggle to give him just his western medicine. On his good days we can get him to take his eastern medicine too.
I want to do what's best for him but every day I feel even more helpless with caring for him.
edit to add - my appologies on being a long time reader and first time poster.