Left to right: Skippy & Pepper
They've been in my life since 2003. They were both with me through some extremely dark times in my life. They showed me nothing but pure affection and unadulterated love as I went through a nasty divorce, battled addiction, cancer, and being alone during a deep depression. As bad as life seemed to be throughout various periods of my life, no matter how sad, down or depressed I was, the millisecond I would get home from work, they'd be waiting for me to open the front door. That feeling of love was always so pure.
Sadly, last July, Pepper was diagnosed with cancer in her jaw. Although she fought it, there had come a point when she stopped fighting. She stopped eating and drinking. She lived her entire life battling ailment after ailment, but this was a bridge too far. I had to make that decision all dog owners hate to make. It broke my heart, and although I was pretty damn depressed for a while, I was blessed to still have Skippy there. It was as if he knew I was depressed and he was just awesome at helping me remember all of the good times Pepper gave me.
Unfortunately, about 4 weeks ago, Skippy got sick. He had diarrhea for 3 days, so I brought him to the vet. The vet took some blood to do blood work, she gave us probiotics to harden his stool, an appetite stimulant and some special food to help him get better faster. She also told us to call her back in 2 weeks. He seemed fine when we called back, but the vet said he was dying, and it had something to do with his liver. She said the normal liver number for Skippy would be about 140 (I'm guessing liver enzymes, but idr), and his was 2990. Without further tests, she couldn't say if it was cancer, or if it was a different disease of his liver. However, she said the test is expensive, and it wouldn't save Skippy. It would only tell us what was the exact disease killing him. She's a great vet, super caring, and instead of trying to milk her off more money, she was honest with us and told us to enjoy every minute we can with him.
It caught me off guard because the diarrhea had stopped and he seemed OK. Sadly, after about 2 or 3 days, he started sleeping all day. His appetite was next to nothing after another 4 or 5 days. His last 3 days were the toughest. I hardly slept those last 3 days because I was up all night watching him in case he needed anything. His health declined so rapidly that I'm still in shock. Friday night was the 1st night in 15+ years without him sleeping on the bed. It was odd not taking him out to do his business first thing Saturday morning. It was odd not feeding him, or taking him out for one of our 3 daily long walks.
I miss him so much, but I'm so grateful that I had 15+ years of him by my side, and 14+ years to have had both Skippy and Pepper. I felt like I needed a few days before I was ready to make a thread about him. Tonight felt like the right time to finally tell my OG family.
Thanks for letting me vent everybody. Sorry for the FRAT. I love you all!
