Lymphoma 1, Wonder Beagle 0. I blame the painters (sort of).

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The Wonder Beagle was always more of a stubborn ass and shameless manipulator than a fighter. Sheer stubbornness is an effective strategy against the cats, and looking pathetic always works with cwPartner, but neither is effective against cancer. I’m only surprised that it ended so quickly. He was diagnosed about two and a half weeks ago. Today he could not find a comfortable position, anywhere, and when we went out, he simply tottered along. We went about half a block until he just didn’t want to stand and then I carried him home. It was time to let him go.

Actually, I blame the painters. That’s right. It’s the painters’ fault that my dog died somewhat earlier than he had to, because they ate Subway sandwiches in my house.

Here’s how I figure it. We’re having some work done on the house and we have several of the rooms blocked off with baby gates. cwPartner and I had to go out and to some errands Sunday afternoon. While we were out, one of the cats knocked down a gate, and all of the pets went exploring. No animals were harmed in this endeavor, but the Wonder Beagle discovered - and disemboweled, and had his way with - a trash bag containing an entire painting crew’s worth of Subway sandwich wrappers, left there by the aforementioned painters. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that dog as excited as when we got home that day. We’re talking, “won the Lotto, got a Nobel prize, found a cure for AIDS and proved Fermat’s last theorem” excited.

So think about it. The Wonder Beagle was, after all, a beagle. And I’d spent years protecting himself from himself, dragging him away from the temptations of half-eaten burgers, fries, burritos, samosas, fried rice, fried chicken, tacos, and so forth, discarded by my neighbors. And then, on Sunday, there he was with the bag of sandwich wrappers and no one but the cats to say anything about it.

He must have believed that he’d reached some pinnacle of beagle-y existence, fulfilled his reason for existing, and decided that his work here was done.

In any case, I forgive the painters. And I leave you with this picture of the Wonder Beagle taken shortly after he got sick. It pretty well captures his overall spirit (when he wasn’t sleeping or looking pathetic).

2

Rest well, Wonder Beagle. Hope those wrappers tasted wonderful.

3

Bless that Wonder Beagle.

4

I’m so sorry for the loss of your Wonder Beagle. :frowning:

5

I’m sorry for your loss. In an odd and horrible coincidence we just found out our beagle Maggie has lymphoma.

Do you mind if I ask what course of treatment you picked and how it worked?

6

I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m only glad that he got to experience such a high of pure joy before the end, and that it sounds like the end was fairly quick. He looked like a very Good Dog, and that is a very fine thing to be, indeed.

7

My condolences. It’s so hard to lose them.

I’m looking at the same decision for my doberman Grace. She’s in congestive heart failure, and has lost most of her appetite. I’m cooking eggs, rice, chicken and chicken livers to keep her eating, but even with those she’s picking through it. She’s on three meds, one of which is supposed to stimulate her appetite, but I don’t see much change. So I’m thinking that the acid test of whether an animal wants to keep going is if it wants to eat.

Anyway, she has a followup appointment on Saturday. We’ll see what the vets say.

StG

8

What a lovely girl she is! I’m so sorry she’s sick.

We went with prednisone (steroids) and tramadol for the Wonder Beagle, because our goal was pain relief rather than reminission. We chose this because he had some other health issues (painful spinal problems) that were (1) already being helped by tramadol (2) wouldn’t be helped by chemo, and (3) likely to get worse regardless of treatment. We knew we were just buying time.

That said, he responded quite well to prednisone for the short time he was on it. The improvement in his appetite was remarkable - we’d been having trouble getting him interested in his food before, but with the prednisone he started cleaning the bowl, and he seemed to feel MUCH better on days when we could get him to just eat his darn food. It also seemed to relieve much of his discomfort, to the point that it was hard to tell that there was anything wrong with him. On a good day, he was obnoxious, enthusiastic, and energetic.

A couple of caveats if you go with prednisone, either by itself or in conjunction with chemo or painkillers. It increases water intake and output. Provide more water to drink and be prepared to take more walks or let Maggie out more often. It can also decrease muscle tone, so she may become weaker or get tired more quickly.

I wish you and Maggie the best.

9

This is what I wanted to say, so I’m just quoting it.

I’m sorry for your loss. Pets leave a great big hole in your life when they go.:frowning:

10

So sorry for your loss.

I love beagles, they have such beautiful spirits and soft ears.

11

Beagles are great aminals. Sorry for your loss.

12

I’m so sorry for your loss.

13

I’m sorry to hear about your loss, but glad to hear that the Wonder Beagle had that one great moment of joy. All of us, whether human, canine, or feline, should be so lucky to experience a moment like that before we die.

14

I am sorry for your loss. Sending supporting thoughts your way!

15

I’m so sorry.

16

If you can make the adjustments necessary to raise a beagle, you have to be alright. I am sorry for your sick beagle. I have 2 of them spending their time wearing me out.
We went on a walk yesterday and Winston found a fish head. I had to battle it away from him. it was stinky, which means it was just right to him.