We’re home. This is a very long post, I hope you don’t mind but I had to say all of it.
We are going to miss our beautiful Rhiannon. Baby Rhi Rhi was very, very sick. We had watched her start to go downhill for a couple of weeks. She wasn’t eating much, moving seldom. It was getting harder for her to get up and walk.
Last night there was a drop of blood on the floor where she was laying down. I wasn’t concerned, didn’t see anything on her mouth or nose. Sometimes dog food (or a stick, silly dog loved chewing on them) would slightly cut her gums.
Bruce got up and took her diaper off this morning so she could go outside, then came back to bed. Nothing was amiss then. About an hour later he heard mowers and was thinking it was our guy coming out today since we got the rain on Friday when he normally comes. He knew Rhi and Isis were both in so he shut the door. Turning around, he noticed the blood all over the floor. It was all over her muzzle and the floor, her front paws. It was a LOT of blood.
He yelled for me, I got up and we got her on the piano bench so I could check her over. As I mopped up the blood from her muzzle, I saw some on her nose. I brushed across it to get it off and when I did, there was a clot and the blood started gushing again. I held pressure on it and it stopped most of the way and we called our vet. They didn’t have a spot but sent us to League City’s branch who just opened and could get us in quickly.
We got her into the car and made the run over there. She wasn’t whining or anything, just panting a lot, probably from her nose being stopped up. While we were checking in, she sneezed and it was all over the floor again. They took her back and checked her, then took us to an exam room.
Doc, who knew her and Isis from the Baybrook vet (Banfield), told us that we could take her to the emergency pet clinic to have them treat it. I asked her what she thought, given Rhi’s 11 years old and she told us it was a cancer, probably. Without tests, she wouldn’t confirm but she had see it before. We talked it over and I made the decision to let her go.
For the last year she’s been in doggie diapers with a size 6 baby diaper for incontinence. We’ve given her meds for it daily since then. She was born with congenital issues on her backside, she didn’t feel anything back there and her legs weren’t working well even as a puppy. She hopped when she ran. With the problems getting worse, lots of issues with both types of incontinence, I thought this might happen, but I just didn’t know when or how.
Sheltie lifespans are about 11-13 years. She turned 11 in June.
She’s had a good life. A long and very pampered life. Rhi loved watching airplanes, running the fence barking at the mowers in the other yards, chewing on sticks, and sleeping with mom and dad.
She was my baby. Isis is dads. I’m gonna miss her deep bark at peanut butter puppy time (their meds) and her sleeping with us at night, taking up most of the bottom of the bed. Her reactions to loud noises (she hated thunder). This week, during the tropical storm, it thundered when we were sleeping and she ended up on my face.
We’re very sad but we know she’s on the other of the rainbow bridge with our 90 pound border collie Angus and my beautiful tortoiseshell cat, Morrigan. She’s running with them, chasing butterflies and airplanes. And I’m gonna miss her.
This is the photo I took at the vet this morning. She had that beautiful Sheltie smile until the very end. We do miss her greatly.
