[maxdog]

It’s been quite some time since I have been on this site and I am sadly back to tell you that we lost Max. My best friend is no longer there to greet me when I come home from work and put a smile on my face no matter how bad my day was. He will no longer jump on my lap with his ball in his mouth when he wants to play fetch. He will no longer, out of the blue, start to lick his sister’s face to the point that her entire face is so wet her fur looks like a punk rocker pointing every which way. He will no longer jump up and down like a pogo stick when he sees us break out the treats jar. He will no longer climb on my chest when I am in the recliner, spin around and scratch my shirt and then curl up into a ball and take a nap. My handsome, beautiful boy is gone.

In July we started to notice a change in his behavior. He was not quite as energetic and would occasionally not eat a treat (this never happened before). We took him to the vet and the blood draw showed some abnormal numbers. The gall bladder numbers were climbing so the vet put him on some meds. Things went back to normal until the beginning of September. He lost his appetite and became lethargic. Off to the vet again and his numbers were bad. His bilirubin was climbing and he became jaundiced. Eyes, gums belly all turned yellow. Liver numbers were climbing. He would not eat at all and became completely inactive. He would only get up to go pee and his urine was a dark brown. The vet was trying to treat multiple issues at once and nothing seemed to be working. For 6 weeks Toni kept him alive by syringe feeding him 4 times a day. We took him to the vet Monday – Friday so he could get IV fluids or subcutaneous fluids to try and flush out the toxins. On one weekend we had him hooked up to an IV at home to keep the fluids moving through him. It tore us apart to look at our normally vivacious, energetic furbaby just laying there looking at us with eyes that made our hearts break. The vet was not sure why the meds were not working. His thyroid numbers also skyrocketed so she started to concentrate on that. She stated that until that got under control the other issues would not go away. After one week of thyroid meds we saw no improvement. She upped the dose slightly and two days later he barked at a cat walking across our deck. Toni and I started crying because it was the first time he had barked in more than a month. The thyroid numbers started dropping and so did his other numbers. The jaundice started to disappear. We bought him fresh chicken breast every day and he started to eat it. Then one day he picked up his ball, walked up the steps onto the couch and dropped the ball in my lap. My boy was back! His appetite, his wonderful personality, his PIA barking when he wanted something were all back. Life was good again and we made sure they both received extra hugs every day. Our vet cried with us saying she was so happy that we stuck it out and never gave up.

But we continued to take him to the vet for blood draws. While all the numbers had dropped dramatically and he was acting normal, the numbers never fully recovered to the normal ranges. We made sure we watched him closely and Toni continued to give him his regiment of meds. She had a spreadsheet that showed the results of every single blood draw he had. Another sheet showed all the meds he was to get daily, the times to give them and boxes to check to makes sure she did not miss any. We were so happy to see him active and happy but in the back of our minds we were still worried about the numbers. And then New Years weekend it happened. We noticed Friday night that he did not quite have as much pep in his step. He gradually became more lethargic over the weekend. He stopped eating. Monday morning we took him to the vet and they did a blood draw. The vet told us to come back that evening and we would look at the numbers. When she walked into the room I knew it was not good news. The one number, which should have been in the 2-12 range was 446. I asked what our options were and she said we had done everything we could have possibly done but it was time to make that impossible decision. She said he was too weak to survive a surgery. She stated that she would normally try to give him fluids so that we could have another day with him but the numbers were so bad she was afraid his gall bladder would burst at any time. She explained that this would be a terrible way for him to go so we made the decision to let our baby go to the Rainbow Bridge. I held him in my arms as they gave him the shots. I kissed his head as he drew his last breath. I still cannot believe my Max is gone. It’s been three weeks and I am crying like a baby as I type this.

I keep telling Toni we have to remember all the joy he brought to our lives. He was so smart, so lovable, and quite often a royal PIA! In the mornings I would put a little bit of peanut butter in a small kong to give to them before I went to work. As soon as he saw the PB jar he would just yip and yip and yip until I put the kong on the floor. I have so many wonderful memories but the pain of losing him seems to block them all out right now. We are doing our best to move forward but it is difficult. We are concentrating on Sasha as we know that she misses her big brother. They were inseparable. They would lay together in a ball and I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other started.

Do me a favor. Grab your furbaby and give them a big hug. I knew that we would eventually lose both Max and Sasha but I thought we would have another 5 years, as he just turned 10 in May. You never know what is going to happen so make sure you enjoy them while they are here.

Bob