Yesterday mornining at 8:30 AM I put my Airdale, Misty to sleep. She was 12 years 2 months and 10 days old..4/18/95- 6/28/07.
I came home Wednesday night to be greeted by a wagging tail. She was fine, dancing around, I had to take the trash out so I opened the door and let her run to visit the neighbors houses, as she was running out she tripped and fell got up and continued on her way, she heard a firecracker go off and quickly came back. In was in that moment that I noticed a complete change she just started standing there with her tail down. I thought she had hurt herself when she tripped. So I rubbed her back legs etc, but that had no effect. I just couldn't stand to see her in so much pain so I took her to the Emergency Vet. They ran some tests and came back with the bad news that she had a tumor on her Spleen and possibly her Liver. The tumor had ruptured and was bleeding. The prognoises for treatment was poor and more so with her age.
I suppose in hindsight the signs were there, in the past month or so I had noticed that she was slowing down, and sleeping more. I just basically thought it was her age and boredom, as one day she would mop around and the next day be fine. The Vets told me that it is so common for the Dogs to be fine and show no signs of distress until it is too late.
Goodbye Misty, my Rodent Catcher. I loved you so much.
