Love is Golden

COCO: Last photo taken the day after his biopsy.
A little over two years ago, our 14 year old Golden Retriever was diagnosed with Melanoma, an aggressive and invasive form of cancer. After a consultation with a specialist, it was determined that because the cancer was concentrated in his snout, it was not operable and therefore he only had a limited time. A couple of weeks later, his health had quickly deteriorated, and we decided it was time to put him to sleep.
On his last day, we spent the whole day with him, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. We took a leisurely drive heading towards the general direction of his veterinarian at the Newport Center Animal Hospital. We spent time at the beach, took frequent bathroom breaks for him because by this time, his body was no longer able to retain food and had constant diarrhea.
His last meal was an angus burger patty that I fed by hand to keep him from choking. As sick as he was, he still had a healthy appetite and would scarf down his food. But because he had trouble breathing through his nose, he would start to choke so I took to feeding him by hand to pace his meal and give him time to chew and swallow between each bite.
That day, he slowly followed us into the hospital, leash-free. All the other times we took him there, he would get a whiff of the place and refuse to step out of the car. This time, it was as if he knew and was telling us it was okay.
That was a little over two years ago. So it was a surprise that I burst into tears when I came upon this site as memories of that difficult time came flooding back.
Red Dog Diary: A Dogumentary. The journey of one dog’s battle with cancer. Check it out. Make sure to watch the moving trailer. Read their list of 10 warning signs of canine cancer. And check out their other blog about the adventures of another happy, waggy golden boy named Spencer. He will bring a smile to your face and steal your heart.



Me-OWW










