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What caused your golden to cross the rainbow bridge?

4K views 45 replies 41 participants last post by  my4goldens 
#1 ·
I was just wondering what caused most golden's to pass away. My Lucky passed at 13 11/13/2010 from liver cancer that spread to his spleen causing it to rupture. I did not even know he was sick. No weight loss or gain. No changes in behavior or activity level. He was playing ball the previous evening. He just was slow getting up in the morning which was not like him and his belly was hard. The emergency vet did surgery because an x-ray showed blood in his abdomen. She told me after opening him up his spleen had ruptured so she removed it and no further bleeding was present. However she did find a football sized tumor on his liver. I told her not to wake him up. I did not want him to suffer in anyway. Why put him through so much pain to only have a few months at most more with him?
 
#28 ·
Smooch and Snobear

We lost our 11.5 year old, female, Golden Retriever, Smooch, to hemangiosarcoma on December 7, 2010 and we lost our 10.3 year old,
Male, Samoyed, Snobear, to hemangiosarcoma, on March 27, 2010.
 
#29 ·
Austin had the exact same symptoms this Tuesday morning (9-13-11). Took him to vet, and discovered through xrays, a baseball size tumor on liver and spleen. I helped him go to the bridge that afternoon...
My girl Amber passed 4 years ago from lupus and a spleen tumor.

A large part of my heart has gone with both of them. I am honored to have been a part of both of their lives. Austin's passing is still very raw and painful. These dogs are just so loving and giving, it makes it almost unbearable to not have them in our lives.
 
#30 ·
Austin had the exact same symptoms this Tuesday morning (9-13-11). Took him to vet, and discovered through xrays, a baseball size tumor on liver and spleen. I helped him go to the bridge that afternoon...
My girl Amber passed 4 years ago from lupus and a spleen tumor.

A large part of my heart has gone with both of them. I am honored to have been a part of both of their lives. Austin's passing is still very raw and painful. These dogs are just so loving and giving, it makes it almost unbearable to not have them in our lives.
I'm so sorry about your Austin and your Amber. They bring so much joy, love into our lives, making our lives so complete and so much better. When they leave the pain is so unbearable, a huge part of you goes with them.

I find peace in knowing my boy is no longer in pain or suffering and take comfort in knowing that one day we will be together again. I know he's with me in spirit, I can feel him everyday. I just hope he knows how much we loved him, what he meant to us, and how much we miss him.
 
#31 ·
Cancer

I lost my son Bear to cancer on 07/23/11 one day after being told he had cancer he was only 1 1/2 years old I have his brother in live in fear everyday that he will get it also. Every time he does something different or out of place for him i call the vet thatnk god he is a great vet.
 
#32 ·
WE LOST OUR FIRST GOLDEN, SCOOTER, AT AGE 5 YRS 2 MONTHS TO SUDDEN HEART ATTACK. HE WAS AN a-1 DUCK RETRIEER, NEVER ANY INDICATION OF HEART TROUBLE UNTILHE WA ROLLING ON HIS BACK AND JUST WENT TO HIS SIDE DEAD. THIS WAS AUG. 22, 1999

I LOST MY HUNTER (AVATAR) OCT 16, 2003 AT AGE 4 YRS 2 MONTHS TO LIVER DAMAGE AND AIAH BROUGHT ON BY PROHEART6 INJERCTION --IT WAS PULLED BY FDA 10 MONTHS AFTER HIS DEATH DUE TO SO MANY DEATHS, LEAD BY AIHA AND LIVER DAMAGE.

WE LOST BUCK ON MAY 15, 2007 TO HEART ATTACK AT AGE 12 YRS. 3 MONTHS. HE WAS A FULL BROTHER, LATER LITTER, TO SCOOTER, OUR FIRST GOLDEN.

WE LOST KAYCEE, LITTERMATE TO HUNTER, ON MAY 25, 2008 (1 YR 10 DAYS AFTER LOSING BUCK) TO CANCER. SHE WAS 8 YRS 9 MONTHS.

NOT A GOLDEN, BUT LOT MY LAT IRISH SETTER, BOOTS, AT 12 1/2 YEARS TO BONE CANCER JULY 9, 1997.
 
#33 ·
Wow. This is a tough thread to read.

We lost Henry to osteosarcoma in the fall of 08. He was only 8. He was the perfect Golden. Just a big happy-go-lucky dog. He was great. If you click his name it will take you to a thread on another forum with some more info about Henry and his short fight with cancer (pages 1 and 4).

Last February we lost Giggles to lymphoma. Giggles was half sister to Henry (same sire). She was a super sweet dog. Very loving and huggable. Her cancer came on really fast, no warning signs at all. One day she just didn't seem herself. We immediately took her to the vet. She was gone in less than a week. She turned 10 last fall. Here is a picture of Giggles in my into here at GRF.

Otter.
 
#34 ·
We lost our Golden boy Phoenix to bloat on March 25, 2009. He was only 8 years old. It was the worst day of my life!!! He was a big goofball of a dog, so loving and gentle. Feels like it was only yesterday we lost him.

Our 11 year old Reno has hemangio but still doing well 3 months post op.
 
#35 ·
I'm new to this board. We're looking for a puppy after losing our Golden Thunder in Oct. 2009. We had no clue what was going on until one night I called him to go outside one more time before bed and he didn't come. We thought he was just stiff (he was 11). My husband took him straight to the after hours emergency vet. They did ultrasounds, etc. and determined he had cancer and the tumor had ruptured. We enjoy his 11 years though and will always have great memories!
 
#37 ·
We lost our wonderful golden Oscar 13 days ago. He just turned 7. He was gone in the span of 8 hours, the result of a corn cob. Ruptured his small intestine and went into septic shock. He went downhil quickly to where chances of success in surgery were very slim. Worst night of my life and I miss my bud terribly.
 
#38 ·
Sunshine was born with severe SAS, we new this when we took her at 3 months. She was only given 3 years at the most but she died 1 month shy of her 8th birthday. Still to soon but we had a wonderful 7 years. I will always miss her.

My MIL has lost 4 Goldens all to cancer. Scully just this week. It was quick and she wasn't sick or in pain, we have to take that as a blessing. Scully was her happy play self until the day she couldn't get up. Hard for us but a blessing for her.
 
#39 ·
Lost my Buddy on June 6th of this year to cardiac hemangiosarcoma.

Worst time in my life. Currently re-looking over the thread I'd started in the senior center and feeling all those emotions again.
Reading all the stories on this board is somewhat like staring into the abyss for myself.
I know I'll be sad, but I can't look away. Somewhat a form of external validation knowing I'm not the only one who feels strongly for our furry companions while empathizing with all of the suffering.

I'm so very sorry to everyone here, the loss of our friends is a pain too great for words.
 
#40 ·
I lost my Golden Girl KC 9/26/11 to cancer. The week before she started to limp and when the vet checked, sure enough there it was and growing fast; I only got to spend one more week with her. The vet figured she had the tumor only 3 weeks, but it was cutting off the circulation in her leg. She just turned 9 in August.

She is the one who helped me with my grief of having to put my other beautiful girl Tasha down who had an agressive tumor in her rear leg. She had just had her crucia ligament repaired less than 2 months before, and then ended up with a tumor in that exact spot.

I miss them both very much, but have such fond memories that I will cherish forever. Goldens are truly perpetual puppies.
 
#41 ·
I lost my first golden boy on May 2, 1992 due to liver failure. Probably cancer. He was almost 12 years old. I was so devastated at losing Jake that I couldn't get another golden retriever until 1998 when I got my sweet boy Leo. He passed away Jan. 16, 2010 from kidney failure and pancreatitis. I kept him alive as long as possible with medicine and a special diet but when he couldn't eat or get up anymore I had to make the tough decision and I still cry. He was my heart dog. I still remember him smiling and wagging his tail at me that last day. He loved his momma and I don't think he wanted to leave me anymore than I wanted to lose him.
 
#42 ·
I lost mine when she was 10 yrs old,in 5 days.She was breathing hard when exercising and had lost a lot of weight.when we tested her,she had a large mass pressing against her chest & stomack and was bleeding,internally.
She died of cancer(hemangioscarcoma).
She was an amazing dog and to this day,I still miss her.
 
#43 ·
I was just wondering what caused most golden's to pass away. My Lucky passed at 13 11/13/2010 from liver cancer that spread to his spleen causing it to rupture. I did not even know he was sick. No weight loss or gain. No changes in behavior or activity level. He was playing ball the previous evening. He just was slow getting up in the morning which was not like him and his belly was hard. The emergency vet did surgery because an x-ray showed blood in his abdomen. She told me after opening him up his spleen had ruptured so she removed it and no further bleeding was present. However she did find a football sized tumor on his liver. I told her not to wake him up. I did not want him to suffer in anyway. Why put him through so much pain to only have a few months at most more with him?
We have a very similar story. My Casey passed away this past Sunday, October 16. He was fine in the morning, had his usual walk. At noon, you could see he was not himself. By 5pm we had him to the emergency vet. An abdominocentisis showed he had blood in his abdomen :(. As he was critical at that point in time, we chose to gently help him to the rainbow bridge. Likely diagnosis was a hemangiosarcoma that was bleeding. Casey was 13 as well.
 
#44 ·
Lost Pennie at 7 yrs to a swallowing problem. She lost the ability to swallow one day. She also couldn't close her mouth or lift her head very high. The vet was at a total loss as to what the problem was. There are no specialty vets in Alaska. So we were lost.
Since she couldn't move her mouth or swallow we use a turkey baster to feed her. Unfortunately we could tell most was going in her lungs. We decided that the best thing to do was end her suffering. She was physically healthy accept for the one problem. It would have been nice to find out what exactly it was that caused her problem. It was so frustrating.
 
#45 ·
We lost our first Golden, Murphy, on August 30, 2011 to hemangio. He had been diagnosed 3 weeks earlier (to the day). Spent the first 2 of those 3 weeks in decent spirits - we had several parties for him (he was very popular).

The last week was rough. We had to spend three days out of town for a wedding. Our dear friend who knew Murph his whole life spent the entire weekend with him - every single hour. It was trying - Murph was getting weaker everyday and uninterested in food.

Murph waited for us to get home. I spent Monday, August 29 at home with him. The vet gave me some medicine to help with his appetite (never in my life thought that would be necessary); we decided to try that for a couple days and help him go if it didn't work.

The next day, I was about to go to work but wanted to see if Murph would potty before I left. Took him into yard, he walked about 25 feet and collapsed. I carried him in (still alive), put him on the couch, and called my wife. We spent another hour with him waiting for the vet to open so we could help him across.

I sat in the back seat with him on the way to the vet. He passed away about a half mile away from vet's office in my arms - the last words he heard were "mom loves you, dad loves you, go find Steve" (Steve was his best bud - a mastif who crossed a couple years ago).

He knew we had come to terms with the situation and did things his way - very typical. We didn't quite have 9 years with him, but he solidified a Golden's spot in our hearts and home forever.
 
#46 ·
We lost our first golden 12 years ago to brain cancer. He started having seizures when he was around 7 or so, he died from it about 9 or 10 months later. Since then we've had four goldens, my Tess died in April at 11 years old to hemangiosarcoma. When she was diagnosed they saw multiple tumors on her spleen and liver, so there wasn't much we could do for her. Five days after diagnosis a heart based tumor burst and I chose to euthanize her.
 
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