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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?
 
#2 ·
My pain is still raw, I get very emotional thinking about Buddy's last days. He was not diagnosed and he was a week shy 9 and half old... I will just copy what I posted on one thread...His nose was bleeding, was not fungal, not cancer, did nose scoping found nothing, his red blood cells count was going down, and white was going up, blood tests, x-rays, and then he got really bad sores on his body, and on his lips, did biopsy and did not get results back, we had to let him go. He lost weight and stopped eating, Buddy who was crazy about food. The vet thought it is cancer somewhere inside or maybe autoimmune disease, I did everything at that time but now at night when I can't sleep I question that "everything". What I did wrong, what I missed to do, did not figure out that yet. My boy was gone, that's only matter.
Buddy I love you, I miss you every second of the day.
 
#3 ·
Even though we have our new furbaby, the pain of loosing Jake & Lillie is still very raw. Jake's liver gave out on him, after years of seizure treatment. Last September his Frontline treatment triggered a very high fever & severe abdominal swelling. Started giving him milk thistle & force feeding him baby food. This brought him out of it for almost 2 months. It hit him again right before Thanksgiving & we knew that he was ready. I can honestly say, that decision was one of the toughest we've had to make after 30+ yrs. together. We were both with him @ the vets office. Absolutely one of the saddest day of my life. Having lost both parents by the time I was 22 & my only sister in 2004, I've had plenty of goodbyes. He wouldn't go, he was such a fighter! The vet first put the needle in his arm, then his jugular, and finally straight in his heart. This was 2 days before Thanksgiving of last year. But we still had our sweet Lillie. Early New Year's morning, she vomited a couple of times. Figured no biggie. She died on my bathroom floor at 11:30 a.m. New Year's Day. I can't even describe the grief! Let alone the guilt! 20+ years with Goldens in our home leaves a very empty house when they are gone. Our vet (Lillie was from his Daisy) was devastated as well. She had some fluid buildup in her abdomen, he checked it out. Said that it was probably her heart. Not a day goes by that I don't miss my babies. Maddie is almost 8 months now & I've loved her since the moment I met her, but I still miss them.
 
#5 ·
Casco was diagnosed with cancer at 13, did not investigate primary tumor, but had about a month before it became too difficult to her to breathe. Fenway passed at 7 years but had been diagnosed with a weak/faulty heart valve at one year. She had a walk that morning, was always full of herself, went out after the walk to relieve herself and had collapsed at the front steps--so swift. Never had any signs of distress. Gone way too soon. We miss her and Casco so much.
 
#6 ·
I have a beautiful picture of Lillie, taken on Christmas morning. She looks so healthy & happy. I'll try to attach it. Not really sure how to do it though.
 
#7 ·
So much heart and heartbreak above and with Bailey. Bailey went to the bridge with my and our vet's help at 12 and 1/2. He did exactly what I asked him to do, which was hold on a few years until I could face loosing him after my mom had died. My dad had passed about seven years prior to that. I'm forty five. Dad died at 60 and mom at 67.

At points we found spots on his spleen, after days of being rather lethargic. Then...He was fine. He started with the fatty tumors, and then had a growth that was removed clean. Bailey lived a healthy, generally, long lived life, his last year clearly his last as mobility impacted him more and more. One night he wouldn't get up. We took him to the ER vet and his bloodwork was a mess, his heart erratic, and showing signs of early kidney disfunction. We helped stabilize him, get to my vet and he seemed to rally again while further tests were going. That night was his last. It's too hard to talk about still. We sat outside, looking at the stars when getting up was too much work for him. As Bello sleeps now, I look at that young face and think about the years with him ahead and Bailey as a pup...
 
#8 ·
We have had goldens for almost 20 years. Our first had congestive heart failure at 10...It came on overnight...the next morning we had to have him put down. Our second golden..who was 5 when we needed to our first put down, was devastated....made our hearts break for 3 months as he could not understand where his buddy went....we had him for almost 13 years. Then he had cancer. Mast cell... We had him operated on..and got 6 more beautiful months with him in our lives...and then, had to have him put down last Dec. The cancer was back and spread.... He was in considerable pain....he needed to go and we said our goodbyes...broke my heart in two...to this day I watch over his grave and wish he were still with me....I miss him badly.

We now have a new little guy in our lives. Seems, that living without a golden in your
life just isn't possible.......
 
#9 ·
I am still in so much pain as I just lost my Kula at 13 years last month.I found her in the dog house and our Vet figured a heart attack or multi organ failure to how quickly she went.It's very hard to even talk about her and I'm so blessed to have found this site for support.
 
#10 ·
Our first golden, JJ, we brought into our house the first year we were married. She had to be put down at 9 and a half from complications of leukemia. She had started to develop masses in her abdomen and was unable to hold down food or water.

Just under a month ago, our current Golden, Rosie, passed away at 14 with our help from declining health from two strokes, failing hearing, rapidly developing blindness, balance issues, and most of all uncontrollable pain from developing severe arthritis. We could have redone the approach to pain management, but I was already having to hold her upright so should could potty. My wife and I just said that enough was enough, and that we would mercifully let her go. Keeping her here would have been just selfish of us. She gave us a great life for a Golden and it was just time.

I will carry the memories of those two dogs for the rest of my life. The were such wonderful, loving, affectionate, spoiled, coddled, and loved by us dogs you could imagine.
 
#11 ·
We don't really know but we've always guessed it was cancer. Carmella's appetite tapered off for several months and then one week she just rapidly went downhill. Her stomach became noticeably larger and one day she collapsed and never got back up. The next morning she died before the vet could get to the house. The vet said it was likely some kind of cancer that had metastasized to her internal organs and that's why she was so swollen looking. Cancer is the devil!

We had 14 1/2 great years with her.
 
#12 ·
We lost Kelly at 10 years old to lung and liver cancer, Ralph was 13 when we lost him - he had a bloat/torsion and although we got him to the vet in time 5 days later his kidneys stopped working, Ginny was 15 , she started to vomit blood we took her to the emergency vet, and to cut a long and distressing story short when we picked her up from there and took her to our own vet the following morning she said her organs were shutting down. So not 100% certain about her. Holly was 14 - she was diagnosed with kidney failure and when we thought we had turned a corner with her she had a massive stroke.
 
#13 ·
I lost my BFF and My Heart dog Frazier January 23rd 2011 to fibrosarcoma, a fatty tumor gone bad after many years that he lived with it. He had a spongy mass for 5 years or more, then all fo the sudden it grew massive (6 mos) and he could no longer cope with it. It was the worst day of my life, and continues to make me sad daily. We never have enough time to keep our fur babies alive and happy.
 
#14 ·
Our bridge boy had cancer, we didn't have it confirmed by blood tests because of his age.

We and our Vet agreed that undergoing treatments would be too hard on him and would not prolong his life. We had 15.5 wonderful years with him, he was basically in hospice his last year, we made the most of each day were given.
 
#17 ·
I lost all three of my past generation to cancer: Joplin, Raleigh, and Acadia. Joplin was well over 15, but Cady was only 9. I live in fear of finding cancer in my four now, because statistically it is not if but when. It is the only thing about goldens that I would change if I had that magical wand or the funding for 1000 great science centers.
 
#18 ·
My first golden-girl love, Katie, passed away January 5, 2011 after just turning 5, 5 days earlier. She passed away due to acute kidney failure - cause unknown but suspect Valley Fever, which she had been battling since she was 3 when it attacked her heart.

I will always love you girl! You were my first and forever golden love! Run! Run! Run! Run and play until we meet again!

Sorry! I know this isn't a memorial thread--I just couldn't help it! It's still so fresh in my heart!
 

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#19 ·
My heartdog Sandy died at 12 and a half because of cancer on Feb 15 2007. She had 2 seizures and we found that she had a huge tumor on her liver that had spread to her brain (the vet thought it had spread to her brain because of the seizures) She went to the Bridge 3 days after we found out about the cancer...Breaks my heart to this day.
 
#20 ·
I know she wasnt a golden, but my girl Riley passed to the Bridge at 7 (way to young) on Jan 12 2010. We dont know what happened to her...she was fine in the morning..by 2:45 AM we had to send her to the Bridge.... this also breaks my heart
 
#21 ·
Dog Mammal Canidae Dog breed Nose


Miss Lillie the Skilley. My sweet baby girl. I miss you so very much. This was taken last Christmas morning--a week to, almost, the minute she went over the bridge. Hugs & kisses little girl.

Sorry the picture is so big. I'm a newbie.
 
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#22 ·
Maddie'sMom2011 your Miss Lillie was such a beautiful girl. So much expression in her smile and in the eyes. Eyes are what I like the most about goldens, their golden heart, and soul, and love is all what you can see in their eyes.
This is really hard thread to read, so much love and pain met in every single post.

 

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#24 ·
We lost Ginger to Lymphoma at 5 years of age in early January 2006. We also think it may be partially from Lyme Disease too because she was just recently diagnosed with that and her back leg swelled up 3 times the size it should have been.
 
#26 · (Edited)
I lost my first Golden Buddy to hemangiosarcoma (Spleenic Cancer) last September (20th), its almost been a year. It was a really hard time, Buddy was so special to our family. He was a member of our family, I miss him so much. He was so smart and sweet. I love that guy! <3
He made people smile everywhere he went. Look at his picture in my signature, he loved swimming!
 
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