Sophie died today.
She's been having "episodes" for a few months now, we thought they were like little strokes, one side of her face would droop, she's have a bit more trouble walking etc but then after a couple of weeks she'd be back to her old self.
She's still been happy and loud and joyous so we've kept her on her painkillers for her arthritis and she just kept hanging out in relativly good health.
She had another "episode" a couple of weeks back, we had to ban her from the stairs because she couldn't go up or down them without falling, we've had to change her food because she could no longer chew bone etc.
Last night she was very restless, I put her to bed again before I went to sleep at 3am and the look she gave me suddenly made me think "wow, she's 12 and a half, she won't be around forever" and I sat with her for 10 minutes telling her I loved her and to try to sleep well.
Thismorning she was sick, shaking, off her food, in pain etc so we took her to the vet.
She crashed badly just after we dropped her off, she technically died right there and they bought her back and put her into surgery. They found a massive tumor we had no idea about, at first they thought it was on her kidney and were just going to remove the kidney but they found it went all around her aorta (sp?) artery and there wasn't anything they could do, the middle fo the tumor had abcessed and they put her down under anesthetic.
Sophie.
Our beautiful, old, elegant lady, the dog we bought home when I was 7 years old and the last surviving animal of what we call the "3 originals".
Sophie, you knew more about compassion than most people, you were always level headed and had one of the most gentle souls in existence.
I will miss you more than you can imagine, your talking when we want you to be quiet, your random boughts of energy on too-tottery legs, your total enthusiasm for anything that your convinced could be half interesting and I will really miss the fac tthat you could udnerstand full sentences in English and in return, worked out very obvious ways of communicating compicated things with us.
I'm glad your not in pain anymore, I'm glad your back with Daisy and Panda. I hope your at a beach tearing madly along the wet sand, Daisy's 5kg's of fluffy fury racing along behind you. I hope your arthritis is gone and you can be as athletic as you were 10 years ago. I hope its warm because you like to sunbathe (hence the sunscreen often worn on your pink-tipped nose) and I hope its not too hot because you hate it when its too hot.
Make sure whoever your with now remembers you liked to be tucked in with a blanket over the top of you on cold night so you can snuggle up. Remind them you don't like the thunder or being in the dark alone.
I hope your hearing is sharp again, your eyes are clear once more and that you can gallop and donkey jump as much as you want.
Thanks for the memories Sophie. We were very lucky to have you, thankyou for raising me, I can't wait to see you again one day.
Love Maggie.
Photos from the last couple of months.
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My alltime favourite pic of her, taken this christmas.
She's been having "episodes" for a few months now, we thought they were like little strokes, one side of her face would droop, she's have a bit more trouble walking etc but then after a couple of weeks she'd be back to her old self.
She's still been happy and loud and joyous so we've kept her on her painkillers for her arthritis and she just kept hanging out in relativly good health.
She had another "episode" a couple of weeks back, we had to ban her from the stairs because she couldn't go up or down them without falling, we've had to change her food because she could no longer chew bone etc.
Last night she was very restless, I put her to bed again before I went to sleep at 3am and the look she gave me suddenly made me think "wow, she's 12 and a half, she won't be around forever" and I sat with her for 10 minutes telling her I loved her and to try to sleep well.
Thismorning she was sick, shaking, off her food, in pain etc so we took her to the vet.
She crashed badly just after we dropped her off, she technically died right there and they bought her back and put her into surgery. They found a massive tumor we had no idea about, at first they thought it was on her kidney and were just going to remove the kidney but they found it went all around her aorta (sp?) artery and there wasn't anything they could do, the middle fo the tumor had abcessed and they put her down under anesthetic.
Sophie.
Our beautiful, old, elegant lady, the dog we bought home when I was 7 years old and the last surviving animal of what we call the "3 originals".
Sophie, you knew more about compassion than most people, you were always level headed and had one of the most gentle souls in existence.
I will miss you more than you can imagine, your talking when we want you to be quiet, your random boughts of energy on too-tottery legs, your total enthusiasm for anything that your convinced could be half interesting and I will really miss the fac tthat you could udnerstand full sentences in English and in return, worked out very obvious ways of communicating compicated things with us.
I'm glad your not in pain anymore, I'm glad your back with Daisy and Panda. I hope your at a beach tearing madly along the wet sand, Daisy's 5kg's of fluffy fury racing along behind you. I hope your arthritis is gone and you can be as athletic as you were 10 years ago. I hope its warm because you like to sunbathe (hence the sunscreen often worn on your pink-tipped nose) and I hope its not too hot because you hate it when its too hot.
Make sure whoever your with now remembers you liked to be tucked in with a blanket over the top of you on cold night so you can snuggle up. Remind them you don't like the thunder or being in the dark alone.
I hope your hearing is sharp again, your eyes are clear once more and that you can gallop and donkey jump as much as you want.
Thanks for the memories Sophie. We were very lucky to have you, thankyou for raising me, I can't wait to see you again one day.
Love Maggie.
Photos from the last couple of months.
My alltime favourite pic of her, taken this christmas.
She was a lovely girl. <3
