Our heeler/beagle mix Ginger had a mast cell tumor removed during the summer, and it has returned with a vengeance. It has made it hard for her to walk for the last few weeks, and today she stopped eating. She’s resting comfortably at my feet, but she isn’t getting up anymore. She doesn’t appear to be suffering, and we’d rather that she leave us at home if possible. Our vet knows that we’ll contact him if it looks like she’s in pain. Her striking blue eyes are still bright, but it looks like the end is near.
Sorry P-man! How old is Ginger? My dog turned 16 two days ago. Take care!
Saucy
Oh I am sorry.
May she go gently. Sometimes they just fall asleep.
She’s around 12. She was full of energy until the tumors started spreading a month or so ago. Last week the vet said the main thing was to keep her comfortable.
That’s what we’re hoping for.
There’s no easy way to say goodbye to dearest friends/family members. Cherish what time you have left, as I know you will. I’m shedding a tear for your anguish tonight.
{{{P-man/Ginger}}}
I am so sorry. It doesn’t matter if you are prepared, Ginger will leave a dog shaped hole in your heart when the end comes. I hope its easy and peaceful on everyone.
Ginger passed away peacefully last night, just a few minutes after our son did a video call from school to say goodbye.
Condolances for your loss
Sorry for your loss. Cancer sucks.
I had a dog with a cutaneous mast cell tumor. She had surgery, then chemo. It looked like she was cured, but a few years later malignant mast cells were found in her spleen and liver.
Sorry for your loss. Our 12-yr old died about a year ago. We got a new pup 2 mos later. Having a pup is quite a change from a good old dog.
P-man and family, I’m sorry for your loss; and glad she was able to go peacefully at home. Maybe she was waiting to hear your son’s voice once more.
I’m so sorry. As I’m fond of saying, I have family members that I’d sooner lose than to lose my beloved fur baby.
May all the good days be permanently etched in your mind and may you cherish every remaining moment that you have with Ginger.
Scratch her behind the ears for me (and Sam), huh ?
Hers was subcutaneous. The vet said she won’t even perform surgery in cases like hers, because it often never even heals. She seemed ready to go once she saw our son. I’m glad he’s with his girl friend; it would have really sucked for him to deal with losing a pet alone.
Best way to go. Still sucks, though.
One of our guys got cancer and we kept him alive for a year on a series of increasingly more costly chemo therapies. Finally, the doc said there was only one left. It cost $500 a dose, had about a 50% chance of killing him and a 1:3 chance of working, so we did not use it. He lasted about a month.
The Sunday before he died we had him trotting on a slack lead, then Monday he took a sudden turn for the worse. We made an appointment for Wednesday, the earliest available, but he passed on Tuesday night. We were kind of glad it was at home and not at the Sharp Place.
I feel badly for not having read through all the posts, and having missed your announcement of her passing.
My sincere condolences on your loss. Ugh.
My very sincere condolences. It’s never easy to say goodbye to anyone who shares your life that long.
P-man—my already broken heart cracked a bit more for you. I’m sorry about Ginger…no matter how much time you had, I’m certain it was not enough (it never is).
I wanted to commiserate with you and maybe shed some of my own grief, so I’m going to take some time to write out a pretty lengthy story about my own loss:
We’ve lost both of our “one-and-only” soulmate dogs in the last year. One is coming up on the 1 year anniversary (my soulmate, Doug passed unexpectedly on Feb 1) and a few weeks ago my soon-to-be wife’s 14 year companion Sal passed. We’re both walking, open wounds. TBH I had no idea Sal’s passing would be as tough on me as it is.
Doug was a dobie mix with that blue color and the cutest little natural ears you ever saw. He was smaller than normal dobies and was slightly more Lab shaped, not as lanky and long-faced as normal Doberman. He was 12 and had no signs of health concerns.
Salvadore, on the other hand, was a grumpy old man dog who was just slightly older than Doug. He was a big ol’ coon hound and had hip, skin, ear and other problems. The biggest was a tumor on his adrenal gland. Sal was all smoke and mirrors, tho…he fooled me into thinking Doug would far outlast him. Wasn’t the case.
On that fateful Saturday last year, I heard Doug making a cooing/moaning sound. He had vocal nightmares and it sounded similar, so I go to gently wake him up as I normally do. I soon realized he was not responding and had gone totally limp. He was in the throes of death—the vet thinks it was whatever the dog version of a massive heart failure is. It was the most awful, traumatic experience of my life. I was not prepared, and was completely devastated.
Sal, on the other hand, continued to generally decline, but kept going. We chased the tumor treatment as far as we could, spent thousands, but resolved to just let him run out the clock as comfortable as possible. The other week he fell ill and I thought it was the end. He normally drank gallons a day and peed a million times (the adrenal mass was pressing on his bladder) but suddenly he wouldn’t eat or drink or move. He just laid in bed. I monitored him closely.
Then he just sprung back to life! It was like…maybe he just didn’t feel good and it really took a lot of out him. But after one really good day, he was weird the next. I heard a strange sound coming from him so I go to check on him. He was laying on the floor unable to stand. I picked up his center-mass so all he’d have to do was get his legs under him, but he just couldn’t. He could move them, but only in a weird flailing way. He lost control of his body functions, so we deduced he had gone to jump up on the bed (something he was doing less and less as his mobility declined) and apparently he missed, fell, and damaged his spine or nerves. At any rate, it was catastrophic.
I got him comfy and calm and got my SO home ASAP. It was very obvious it was the end, so we had to rush to the nearest vet before they closed.
This next part is why I’m taking the time to type all this out—it’s so comical that we HAVE to be a reality show for aliens–
Due to pandemic restrictions, we weren’t allowed inside with him. But we also refused to let him cross the bridge alone, so the compromise was to do it outside the building. The vet suggested on the stoop near their entrance. That sounded fine.
Except—it was rush hour and we were 10 feet away from one of the busiest intersections in the city. So we’re bawling our eyes out, saying goodbye to basically a family member all out in front of 30 cars sitting at the red light. I’m sure we ruined a few people’s night.
Anyway, after Doug passed last year I had an upcoming 40th birthday. I got on social media and asked for a birthday gift: Please doodle me a Doug picture! Or have your kid do it. Good, bad, funny, sad—I wanted it all. Don’t like to draw? Ok, photoshop something. Or whatever you do, make a Doug one!
It went micro-viral and spread to other states/countries as strangers started passing my request around. I got stuff from both coasts (from strangers), the gulf, way up north, as well as pieces from India, the Netherlands, England and I don’t recall where all else. I got several AMAZING embroidered pieces, paintings—one guy made me some cool button like you’d put on a jean jacket. It was overwhelming in the best possible way.
I promised I would make a slideshow video so everyone could see, but I put it off…then Sal died…now the anniversary is upon me and I have to finally do it. So I’m dredging up some feelings I had shoved in a drawer to be dealt with later. It’s now later.
So suffice it to say I grieve with you. I had no idea how difficult the loss would be. I hope you’re managing ok.
Thanks for sharing, dontbesojumpy. It happened fast with Ginger. The big tumor removed from her side never bothered her too much. During the fall it came back, this time closer to her front leg. It made it harder for her to walk, so she didn’t want to go on long walks anymore. However, she still like playing ball in the yard. She did that as recently as this past Wednesday. She also looked like she had something growing in her abdomen, but with all that was happening and her age (around 12) we mostly wanted to keep her comfortable. Her breath got ragged the last couple of hours, but her blue eyes were bright to the end. We are managing ok. One of the cats seems a little sad, but her best cat friend died next to her several years ago.