Lost a great friend!
Posted: March 9th, 2008, 7:09 pm
Friday afternoon I had to make one of the most difficult decision's that I've had to make in many many years. I had to have my lab put to sleep. 
When I got home from work Wednesday afternoon the baby sitter told me that he really didn't move off of his pillow very much all day. I tried to get him to eat but he just walked away. My wife tried giving him treats and he would just turn his nose up at them. By this time it was around 5:30pm but when I called the vet they said they would wait on me. They did some blood work and told me that something was going on with his liver. They said the normal liver count in a dog his size should be around 100 but that Spooks was over 1000. They kept him over night to run more test (x-rays, ultrasound, ect.). Thursday the vet decided the only way to get a definitive answer was to do exploratory surgery. Spook was to weak for the surgery on Thursday so it was scheduled for the following day. Friday morning Dr. Hodges called to tell me that he would be the one preforming the surgery and that he would call me while he had Spook open and let me know what he found. Dr. Hodges called me around 2:00pm and said there was a tumor the size of my fist on Spooks liver. There was no way to remove it because it would have basically removed over half his liver. He also thought that the tumor was to advanced to respond to medication. Ultimately my wife and I decided it would be better on him to just not wake him from surgery. Spook would have been 12yrs. old April 1st. This picture was taken of Spook and my little girl Payton at Christmas.
R.I.P. Buddy!
When I got home from work Wednesday afternoon the baby sitter told me that he really didn't move off of his pillow very much all day. I tried to get him to eat but he just walked away. My wife tried giving him treats and he would just turn his nose up at them. By this time it was around 5:30pm but when I called the vet they said they would wait on me. They did some blood work and told me that something was going on with his liver. They said the normal liver count in a dog his size should be around 100 but that Spooks was over 1000. They kept him over night to run more test (x-rays, ultrasound, ect.). Thursday the vet decided the only way to get a definitive answer was to do exploratory surgery. Spook was to weak for the surgery on Thursday so it was scheduled for the following day. Friday morning Dr. Hodges called to tell me that he would be the one preforming the surgery and that he would call me while he had Spook open and let me know what he found. Dr. Hodges called me around 2:00pm and said there was a tumor the size of my fist on Spooks liver. There was no way to remove it because it would have basically removed over half his liver. He also thought that the tumor was to advanced to respond to medication. Ultimately my wife and I decided it would be better on him to just not wake him from surgery. Spook would have been 12yrs. old April 1st. This picture was taken of Spook and my little girl Payton at Christmas.R.I.P. Buddy!
