Today we said goodbye to this special little guy...
As you can see from my sidebar, we've been through this many times over the years.
It never gets easier.
For the past week, Jarrett has been sneezing a bit harder than normal. He's so low to the ground that when he sneezes, he bumps his snout on the floor (which for the past week has given him a tiny bloody nose - not a lot of blood - one swipe of a tissue and it was gone). We assumed it was maybe a seasonal allergy, but decided to have it checked this past Monday.
We were shocked to learn that he had an aggressive cancer on the roof of his mouth that had started traveling into his nasal passage. That was what was causing the more pronounced sneezing along with the bit of a bloody nose. The recommendation: euthanasia. Treatment was not an option. Especially for a 15 year old dog. I have no idea how long he'd had it. Other than the sneezing/bloody noses, he'd shown no symptoms whatsoever.
We brought him home so our two girls, who no longer live at home, could come and say their goodbyes. And the past few days while on the pain killers he was sent home with, he did really good. He stopped sneezing and getting bloody noses, a good thing .
We knew his days were numbered, and that his cancer was aggressive and not treatable, but while he was still wagging his tail and enjoying life (and food), I was not ready to say that final goodbye.
But things changed suddenly, and Mr. J took a turn for the worse overnight. We rushed him to the vet's first thing this morning to face the inevitable.
"My little old dog: a heart-beat at my feet." (Edith Wharton)
Till we meet again, Mr. J, our sweet, sweet boy. You will always live on in our hearts.
Donna