I haven't washed our windows in more than a month. There are doggie nose prints on the sliding glass door and our front picture window...
Nose prints left by our sweet Porter, waiting to be let outside or excited to see someone coming home. And now the house is too quiet. We said goodbye to Porter on September 6th.
It all started with a cough, from a dog who had never coughed. We took him to the ER vet on the Sunday before Labor Day. He had a fever and was coughing so we went home with antibiotics. The cough went away...the fever never did. Then the shivering, whining and pacing started...his sweet eyes filled with confusion and pain. Back to the vet mid week where they determined he was in pain caused somewhere in his back. He spent a few hours with the ER vet on Wednesday night but they called us at 3:00 am to tell us that he was crying and howling and very confused. We went to pick him up and I immediately noticed something different. My beloved dog no longer really knew who we were. It felt like he was looking right through us. Thursday we got Porter into the car and drove to our regular vet. When we got there, he wouldn't stand up. The wonderful doctors there ran through all the symptoms again, so patient with us as we described a rapid progression of weird things. We went home with new pain meds.
And Porter continued to howl and pace and look right through us. This continued on for days and days through numerous different drugs, trying to get his pain under control to no avail. Finally, I called our vet on his cell on Saturday afternoon and he said the words I feared, "At this point we need to see a neurologist and we're looking for something really big and bad and scary. No one will fault you for ending his pain at this point."
An amazingly kind lady came to our home on Saturday night and let Porter finally get some sleep and peace. He left this world in the comfort of his own bed in our family room. He was only 7 and we'd only been blessed to be his people for 3 1/2 years. It wasn't long enough and he was too young.
We'll never really know what happened, but the most likely thing is that he had a brain tumor.
I miss his kisses. I miss hearing his four happy feet on the floor coming to greet me when I get home. I miss having a soft, warm loving, living being to hug and pet and cuddle with.
This afternoon we spread his ashes in the backyard...his domain! He is no longer in pain and we'll see him again someday.Run free sweet boy. We love you.
~Karli and Brent
