An extra 2 months and 23 days. This a story about my old labrador in his final days.

Me with my two loyal dogs on a winters day

With the growth/tumour/cancer/unknown swelling under his throat since mid-Dec 2022, I had originally thought he was a goner on the 23rd Dec.

At that time the option from the Vet was to spend $700 (to start off with!) to be told what the problem may be (been there before; pay the money to be told "we can’t be sure what it is" or "yes he has cancer or needs an op for another $700").

In their offices, within a minute I had to weigh up the consequences. I know he has a problem, I also know he is old labrador and an operation is not a great idea. So I left the Vet feeling like I had no good options.

Over the Christmas holidays, I’m agonising over the thought that I signed his death warrant due to inaction. It’s really hot and the swelling gets worse and worse. He blows up like a balloon all over his neck and face.

I do the Dr Google thing and decide it’s a blocked salivary gland and the only option is to operate and again I resist, knowing he has reached the good age of almost 13. To make matters worse, I’ve got some holidays planned and my old man is sick and needs me. What a bad week.

After a slow walk

Fortunately, Dr Mary steps in, on the 27th Dec, and says “I think it might be cancer, I have an alternative, these little blue steroid pills (pred-x) may give him a couple of extra months.”

Obviously, the cancer is bad news, but the extra time is good news. I’m so grateful for relief for my boy, I have been praying, “Lord, please don’t let him suffer, Lord please let me be with him when he passes.” These are my two biggest requests. (Particularly after the trauma of Poppie’s passing earlier in May).

We take the pills and leave him with some doggy sitters and head off to Sydney. The photos start coming through and Lightning has energy and is looking better and better every day!

The pills were doing miracles. We get home and we have a much happier little baby. The swelling has gone down totally. The pills however had other unwanted side effects. Can you imagine intense hunger in an already food-obsessed Labrador? And as time passed, more and more anxiety developed in the form of extra barking and needing company (I wonder now if he was trying to tell me he was in pain). I can’t tell if this was the pills or the numerous body issues catching up with him. He was on edge, but much happier.

I was thanking God for my extra days of a dog still happy for walks, wagging his tail, and eating lots of food! Yes, he picked up quite a bit of weight.

So life continued and each new day with my doggie was counted as a blessing. He had ups and downs and needed antibiotics/probiotics often as the hunger turned him into an eating machine searching for anything (Yuk!).

The spirit was willing, but his body grew weak. The walks grew shorter, the breathing became laboured all the time. I could see him getting increasingly uncomfortable, he was so restless and it seemed like his heart was always racing. But he soldiered on.

I kept praying Lord, don’t let him suffer & please let me be there with him and thank the Lord for every extra day.

I became neurotic about leaving him, panicking about him being okay while I was gone. He was a shadow, following me all over, never allowing me from his sight. Expect when he was sleeping so soundly that I could step over him! This was a new experience as he had always been so alert and ready to eat once I woke up! He even started struggling to get up.

Then everyone in the house was beginning to agree, it’s almost time. The Lord had blessed us with an extra 2 months and 23 days. Hallelujah. I had learned of the option of euthanasia at home which I wish I could have given to my little girl Poppie.

Poppie out on a walk

We found a company online, and a massive shout out to Dr Mel from the Kindest Goodbye. She came and we were all able to love him. She gave him a relaxing injection. This was to allow his body to relax, something I hadn’t seen for two months, a real relax.

We loved him, we spoke to him, we thanked him. We cried and he was in a deep sleep and breathing soundly.

When we were ready, she let him go. I couldn’t stay and ran to the garden. Thankfully my husband and son could take over.

I went to the garden and that’s where I’ll talk to him and Poppie again and again.

Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with an answered prayer and a blessing of extra time. Thank you for answering my prayer of reducing his suffering and letting me love him into his next experience. Thank you, reader, for sharing my journey of the blessing of loving a dog. Getting over them is an entirely different story which I hope to share soon.

Love Sproetjies

This is in my garden, when I miss them terribly, I go here.