After a long, tough battle with some unknown type of cancer, our
Maggie has crossed the Rainbow Bridge.
She did really well after her surgery a year ago, and even after
biopsies were done on tissue from her one good kidney and her bladder,
no cancer was found.
This past May, she began coughing. Then, we noticed that she was
retaining fluid in her abdomen. We also noticed that she had swelling
around her throat area and her leg joints. After many vet visits, it
was concluded that she had to have some type of cancer, even though it
couldn't be found. No unusual growths were felt anywhere, nothing was
seen on an ultrasound and there were no unusual cells showing up in
any of the lab tests (blood, urine and fluid drawn from her abdomen
and chest). Her heart looked and sounded good, considering all the
excess fluid in the chest that it had to deal with, so we knew it was
not heart disease.
Despite medications and holistic therapies, it got the best of her.
We would try tapping fluid off her abdomen, but it would just come
back. Last Saturday, she had a very difficult time. It was hard for
her to breath. She had lost so much muscle mass that her backbone was
prominent. We decided that she had been through enough and had the
vets at Metro Vet put her down. I held her in my arms as she left us.
No matter how bad off an animal is, it is always such a hard thing to do.
When we were driving home, I had a vision of Maggie and Lola being
reunited on the other side. Lola was so happy to see her friend!
They both had happy faces, being together again and free of their old,
diseased bodies. It made me feel a bit better, but I still miss them
both so much....
So does Annie, my only dog now. She was raised with both of them and
also my cat, Smudge. Now, they are all gone. I feel horrible about
leaving her at home alone now. I wish I could take her with me
everywhere.