Kelsey
- August 17, 2004
- 4 comments
We had to put down one of our two family dogs this morning. Kelsey was a 10 year old Sheltie. My parents had bought her soon after I had left for college, so I never got to see her as a puppy and I only saw her once a year for several years. Once I moved back home after college, I got to spend more time with her, playing with her outside and stuff. And after I got my mini-Dachshund, Shorty, she used to go outside and chase the ring with him.
Over the last year, she seemed to be slowing down, not having near the energy she used to. She was getting weird in the head in that she was afraid to walk on any smooth surface floor. She was afraid of falling, which she’d done before. She was losing hair and going blind. She was having trouble breathing. She would still go outside to play, but she would mostly stand there and bark and let Shorty chase the ring.
During the last several days though, things went downhill very fast. She began falling a lot more on our wood floors and became scared to walk on them. Nothing we could do would convince her to walk on them, so we’d have to carry her outside to go to bathroom. Eventually, she couldn’t get up at all. Her back legs weren’t working right.
Yesterday, she surprised me by going outside with me and Shorty to play again, but she only stood up for a couple minutes before laying down on the grass. It took her forever to make it back inside and her back legs gave out right before she made it to the computer room rug, where she had been spending most of her last days. I felt so sorry for her. I knew she had to be in pain and it was cruel to keep her alive like that. She couldn’t even stand to use the bathroom outside. She’d try, but would fall over into her own mess. It was sad.
So this morning, we took her to the vet to see if anything could be done. If nothing could, we gave our consent to put her down. The vet called and said she had many problems. She was diabetic, which explained her hair loss and blindness. She had some of the worst arthritis he had seen in a dog, which explained why her back legs wouldn’t work anymore. It hurt her too much. She also had congestive heart failure, which explained why she was looking very bloated the last several weeks. Her body was filling up with fluids. She must’ve been miserable the last few weeks, so I’m glad she’s no longer hurting. Still, it’s always sad to put down a family pet.
I took the above picture and some others of her yesterday evening, knowing they would most likely be the last pics we’d have of her. She was a good dog, and will be missed, especially by my sister since it was her dog.
Yeah, she was a good dog. Very, very obedient and completely trusting. She hated baths, but would stand there and take it anyway. I can’t remember a time where she tried to get away.
She would lie there and let us clip her toenails, even if we accidentally cut too short and made her bleed. She never whimpered in pain. Not even in the last few weeks.
The only time I can remember her whimpering in pain was when I beaned her right in the eye with Shorty’s toy ring. I threw it really hard, and she jumped in the way at the wrong time. She was only a foot away too. It made her eye swell up and shut. I felt awful, but it wasn’t 10 minutes later and she was back out there playing with a swollen eye.
I’m sorry, Chris. There are no words. :(