Month: February 2014

At midnight last night, our loyal companion, Porter, left us and this world for a place where he is free of blindness and cancer. To the end, he was brave and determined to do his best and enjoy life in our family. On Sunday, he had his “last great day”; he got up and napped on his favorite couch, he walked independently around our kitchen, family room and outside and enjoyed a steak dinner with us. On Monday he gradually became weaker and stopped eating and refused water. His euthanasia had been scheduled for this afternoon (Tues.) when his local vet was available. Being the alpha dog he always was, he determined the timing and location of his passing; Laying quietly on his own bed in our kitchen with his family around him. Safe travels, Porter. We will miss you. You certainly had a great run!

Apologies for this belated post. The Fall months flew by with us adjusting to life back in the USA and enjoying time with Porter. An introduction to those of your who don’t know or remember us. Porter, our 12 year old golden retriever, had an amputation of his left front leg for osteosarcoma in July 2013 while my husband and I were living in Germany. My husband was on Sabbatical for 8 months. Our son, a college student, was caring for Porter during our absence. Porter recovered from his surgery with the usual ups and downs and we kept in close touch via skype. We discontinued Porter’s traditional chemotherapy after 2 doses due to severe diarrhea and weight loss and he switched to metronomics and alternative therapy of low dose cytoxan and I’m Unity (polysacaride) with some intermittent appetite issues. He enjoyed the Fall with trips to our lake house in upstate NY and wading in the lake where he used to be a great swimmer and duck chaser. Now he was content to watch the activity and enjoy lots of treats and pets. In January his chest films were clear and we celebrated 6 months post amputation. Sadly, last Friday he had difficulty walking and refused to eat. His declining condition happened very suddenly and we were unsure of its cause, but knew it couldn’t bode well. A trip to our local Vet revealed severe anemia and it was decided to make the trip to our oncologist for restaging the following day. An ultrasound revealed yesterday that Porter had a large amount of internal bleeding from tumors in his liver and spleen. We are at home today with Porter who is resting on his bed and eating small amounts of hamburger and canned food. He is taking a Chinese drug to help stop the bleeding, rimadyl and tramadol. He does not seem to be in pain but is weak. His Ruff Wear harness has been a God-send especially now in his weakened state. Tomorrow we will talk with our local vet re: scheduling Porter’s euthanasia. He’s certainly had a great run!