Yes, it’s been a bit of an unpleasant day to be Phoebe, I’m afraid. Her breathing has been a bit wheezy and labored this week, with her coughing fits going from nearly non-existent to regular and unstoppable. It got to the point where we decided to take her in to the vet today. They weren’t going to fit her in until Monday, so I had to tell them that she’s having trouble breathing. So, we came home early from work and took her to her favorite place – NOT! As usual, the assistants were fawning all over her, as they absolutely adore her. The vet listened to various parts of her lungs for a while and then decided to take her back for an x-ray to see how the heart problems have progressed since her last x-ray in November. I hate when they say the words “congestive heart failure.” I know that’s what she has, but it still makes me nearly sick to my stomach. The x-ray showed that her heart has enlarged to the point where it’s literally pushing her trachea up and out of its normal location, which will excite her cough receptors. A portion of her lungs have muted breath sounds through the stethoscope and you could see the line of fluid at the bottom of her chest cavity, which is what muffles the breath sounds. So, they have increased her medications to twice a day in the hope that they will control her heart size (keep it from enlarging further) and reduce the fluid. We also found out that she is having seizures every once in a while. She’s only had 3 or 4 in the past several years, but one of them was last night. That was the first time that Terry’s seen her have one up close, so I encouraged him to ask the vet about it. Based on her symptoms of collapsing, urinating and muscle spasticity, the vet thinks that they are seizures, but doesn’t feel that they are something that should be medicated unless she gets to a point where they are much more frequent. Finally, we had a cyst on her back aspirated to check the contents. It turns out that it’s completely benign and cosmetic, so it’s not causing her any issues, but she’s had it for quite a while and I wanted to have it checked.
So, the poor girl has been poked, prodded, x-rayed, injected, aspirated and just generally worked over. She’s such a good girl, so she didn’t complain a bit. I cried a little bit while they had her in the back for the x-ray, just because I have a tough time being faced with her mortality. The vet really put a good face on it, saying that her body condition is still good, she’s not losing her appetite, she doesn’t seem to be losing muscle mass or anything, she’s just coughing. I just wish I had some idea of how much longer we’ll have her.
I’m back to thinking of getting a second dog before Phoebe leaves us. I just can’t figure out if it’s a good idea or not. Your opinions and experience would be appreciated. I just know that I will not deal with her death well when it’s her time and I don’t know if having another dog to have to take care of will help or hinder. I haven’t really gone through this before, so I don’t know what to expect from myself. Part of me expects to become a hermit in my grief and that I might not want to get another dog for a while, but part of me expects to want to run out and get another dog right away. So, I really don’t know what to do.
Well, anyway, enough of that morose topic. I’ve been stitching on Pretty Posies today, finally. Here I’ve been avoiding it like the plague and now that I’ve gotten back into stitching it, I’m not sure why. I have a game day at a friend’s house on Saturday and I have to work on Sunday, but it’s the kind of work where I can stitch while I’m waiting for jobs to finish, so I expect to have a progress photo after the weekend. I’m just too tired and lazy to take a pic right now, sorry.
And that’s it for me for now. Sorry for the disjointed post, but I’m tired and my stream of consciousness is not necessarily coherent. Thanks for hanging with me. 🙂
I had 2 cats when one of them passed away, and having Merlin (we still do), really, really, really helped a lot, especially the first couple days. He knew his buddy was missing, so he made sure he kept an eye on me and never let me feel too lonely.
The big thing will be how Phoebe will react to getting a new pal. If you think she can handle it, I’d say go for it. Having another dog around might give her “new life” so to speak.
Good luck with whatever you decide!
I’m sorry to hear about Phoebe, Jenna. I haven’t (yet) had to go through the death of my own pet, but I would hope that if/when one of our cats dies, it would (might) help that the other one is still around. {{{Hugs}}} to you, whatever you decide.
Phoebe has been your only baby, am I right? I mean, she’s never had to share you with another dog or cat? If that’s the case, I’m afraid I’m going to go against the current and say that it would be better not to get another dog while you still have her. I’ve seen what an adjustment my pets have had to make (to new pets and to kids, to moving, etc.) and my opinion (which combined with a buck fifty will get you a cup of coffee) is that you should just enjoy the heck out of her for as long as you have her and consider a new dog … later.
Awww, poor Phoebe!!! It really is very hard to know our fur babies won’t be with us forever. We had a Toy Poodle (Muffin) who was about 12 or 13 when we got our Pom (Tux). Getting Tux was not a planned thing, it just kind of worked out that way. It took a little bit of adjustment at first but Tux seemed to bring some youth back to Muffin. Muffin passed away about a year or so after we got Tux but I like to think (and it truly seemed to me) that she was happy having a buddy for that last year or so.
It’s totally personal decision but the situation worked our well in our case. (((hugs))) to you.
When Bitsy passed we had just gotten another kitten and it made it a little easier to handle her being gone. While her death still hurt the cuddling with the kitten seemed to help a lot. (((HUGS))) for you and Phoebe!
I am sorry that you and Phoebe are having a difficult time. It is a hard decision of whether to get a new dog now, or not. I agree with Barbara, that Phoebe may not take too kindly to having to share her humans with another dog. {{{{HUGS}}}}
And I’ll also agree with Barbara…since Phoebe is a bit frail, healthwise, and is used to being your baby, a new critter might be too much stress on her. There is always an adjustment period when a new animal comes in and she may just not want to deal with it. If you get a puppy, she may not feel up to teaching the young’un some manners or want to put up with a puppy’s playfulness. If you get an older dog, there may be some alpha/territorial issues that she may not handle well. I would gently suggest to enjoy Phoebe while she’s still with you, then think about a different dog once the situation is better suited for a new dog.
(((HUGS))) Realizing a pet’s mortality is never fun.
This is so sad… (((hugs)))
Tough decision to make. I know P’tite Mignonne wouldn’t bear having to “share” us with anyone else (heck, she even finds it hard to share me with Seb, now that it’s so often just the two of us at home). You’re probably the best judge for this. If you think she’d react positively to a “brother” or “sister”, then this would probably be the best for you and Terry.
I really hope Phoebe will be grcing your lives for many years to come 🙂
I am sorry to hear about Phoebe, I hope she will get to feeling better. Another animal would probably be good to focus on it something does happen. Hopefully, it won’t! {{{hugs}}}