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Gixxus Christ!

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Ty's favorite thing to do is butcher toys and dine on the delicious squeaker within. My wonderful woman hit petsmart today and bought the toys with the most squeakers. Here he is starting in on a 3 ft long Japanese dragon with probably 20 squeakers inside.

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Haha...my dogs do the same thing and have torn up more than one of those guys. I always wonder if they are disappointed when they get to the squeaker and find out it's not some living thing.

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So sorry to hear. 

We lost our dog of 17 years in May 2013.

Took us until Aug 2014 to get our hearts open to another dog. We adapted a 6 month old Husky.

it always hurts when they leave us, but I would not change the time we shared.

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My avatar is getting slow, losing his hearing, going grey - I know I don't have that long with him, but he's still happy and still family. It's breaking my heart a bit already, gonna make me a wreck when I have to let him go. I think a dog has a sly way of making us bigger messes than a human, because they're not aware of their condition, or their pain and just soldier on...and an owner feels their plight for them. It's cruel, but I guess that's the trade we make for years of companionship.

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My avatar is getting slow, losing his hearing, going grey - I know I don't have that long with him, but he's still happy and still family. It's breaking my heart a bit already, gonna make me a wreck when I have to let him go. I think a dog has a sly way of making us bigger messes than a human, because they're not aware of their condition, or their pain and just soldier on...and an owner feels their plight for them. It's cruel, but I guess that's the trade we make for years of companionship.

I hear that. 14 yrs is a good run for a large breed, you're lucky in that but I feel your pain on the slow decline.

Ty will be 7 this month. I always sort of figured that he would have at least 5 more years in him. We took him to the vet because he was getting really finicky with his eating, he'd turn his nose up to dry food etc... we did some research and tried starving him into just eating the food. When that failed we hit the vet.

He was 6 lbs lighter than 9 months ago on check in. The tech asked if he always had so much flesh in his neck. He's always had big jowls but she said they felt full. She left and while we waited for the vet I started feeling around his throat and his lymph nodes were the size of egg yolks.

The vet came in, looked at his gums and said they were light, and it was a sign of anemia, and that coupled with the enlarged nodes pointed to a number of things. After blood work and doing slides on his nodes she confirmed that he had lymphoma.

After 2 days of prednisone the nodes in his neck are shrunk back down. He eats pretty good, still plays and runs, still gets excited when I ask if he wants to go walk. He's still the same dog for all outward intents and purposes. His deuces are a bit loose lately but I attribute that to the diet, the steroids and the vitamin c. I'm going to just enjoy these days and hope they last a long time. So far this is the first day I haven't broken down and cried with the wife, but the day isn't over yet. I take solace in knowing that I'm making every day the best I can for him. I spend every night at home after work now, not wanting to miss out on a minute of time with my buddy. My only hope is that once he starts to get really sick that it doesn't last long and that I have the selflessness and mercy to take that last drive with him when it's time.

It feels good to get this out on (virtual) paper. Thank you all for reading and for your support and kind words.

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Thanks pauly, though we see each other online far more than in person you've been a good friend to me and I appreciate that. You should meet this dog...if you're inclined to ride south soon I'd like to offer you a sammich and a chance to play with the best dog I've ever had. You have my number.

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Lost my buddy Graham sometime back, I miss him daily, he was a awesome dog. Even though I've moved, re-married and tried to move on I still walk down stairs in the morning expecting to see him on the couch waiting on me.sorry to hear your loss man. I truly know it's tough and am actually shedding a tear thinking about it. Sometimes time heals things but sometimes it's not meant too.

Remember the good times!

This grace invading my seat, (that's alright there is another).

Molly being herself, loving and caring, spending time with me.

And the K9's, chillin enjoying the day

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Lost my buddy Graham sometime back, I miss him daily, he was a awesome dog. Even though I've moved, re-married and tried to move on I still walk down stairs in the morning expecting to see him on the couch waiting on me.sorry to hear your loss man. I truly know it's tough and am actually shedding a tear thinking about it. Sometimes time heals things but sometimes it's not meant too.

Remember the good times!

This grace invading my seat, (that's alright there is another).

Molly being herself, loving and caring, spending time with me.

And the K9's, chillin enjoying the day

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Being a dog man, over the years I have lost many good buddies, and it always is terrible, but the memories are what got me through.  Lots of memories of long walks, shooting over my dogs, the long rides home.  Plus all the crazy stuff they did....lol...great memories.  Even greater dogs.  They say a man is lucky to ever have even one dog that is great.  I am lucky to have had many like that.  Hang in there.

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Update:

The prednisone really fucked him up for a while. 4 pills twice a day shrunk his inflamed lymph nodes back down to normal but also made him lethargic, drink and piss constantly and gave him the shits. Friday was the worst, he finished off all his food and water in the middle of the night and shit on the carpet. The wife got him some stuff from the vet that basically replaces the good bacteria in his bowels and firms his poo back up. Also cut his prednisone dosage in half. Friday was bad, he was actually acting sick.

Huge improvement today. We went on a walk and he actually would jog with me. He is much more lively, had a lot of energy. We went to her parents tonight for our niece and nephews birthday party and brought him. Everyone loved him and as usual he was a very good dog. Came home and he decapitated one of his toys...he hasn't shown much interest in that kind of action in a few days.

Super extra special thanks to nick (gsxkat1100) for stopping over Thursday with toys and treats. You will not find a more solid dude and he is yet another good friend I have thanks to ORDN.

Super extra regular thanks to everyone else that have offered their kindness and support, it is much appreciated, it's good to know that among the ass-hattery and general shit talking, keyboard commandos and good natured ribbing that goes on here there is still a community of generally awesome people who genuinely give a fuck. Beers on me whenever we meet.

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Prednisone is hard on the system, especially over longer periods of time. When my pup had to be on it, we had to ration his water--especially in the evening, and had to get him outside way more frequently. Also, it can cause him to always feel hungry even though he's getting enough food--I've had to take it before and felt like I just couldn't get enough to eat. One trick the vet told us, was to give him green beans and canned pumpkin as 'filler' (not pumpkin pie filling--just 100% pumpkin). These are easy on the system and low calorie, and if nothing else lets him eat more without causing other issues. One word of warning though: If he vomits or craps in the house, it can be difficult to get the orange stain out, lol...

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Sorry to hear Sam. I can't say I've been there before, but since I have a dog, I am going to know that feeling eventually. I can't imaging not having her around, she's eating some extra treats right now. She kinda looked up at me when I tossed them over to her, she kept laying there but looking at me like I wanted her to wait haha. Good training I guess, I had to say "ok" and she wolfed them down.

Sent from my iPhone.

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Good to hear!

 

One of my dogs was bitten on the ear at doggy day care last week. The vet treated the wound but now it's gotten infected. He's miserable and to make it worse, he has to wear the cone of shame. Poor guy.

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Edited by ScubaCinci
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Skipped the ojibwa today in favor of dropping his prednisone dose again. Skipped his 7pm pills and by 9 there was a marked improvement. 15 min ago he played tug of war with me. He hasn't done that for 5 or 6 days. Vet advised us that in dropping the prednisone dose we would be trading quality for quantity...and we decided it was worth it. I'd rather have my old dog back for a few weeks than have a depressed sick dog for a few months. I've come to terms with letting him go. I'd rather see him happy for what time we have left.

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