Always looking for something snug to bury himself
I would have to say that it was four or five years ago that Bentley's health started to decline. I had taken him to the pet store to have him bathed and groomed but after we were all done I took him out into the parking lot and set him down so he could go pee on one of the bushes in the parking lot. He was acting like he was drunk. He was walking in circles, then fell onto his side and flopped around on the pavement. I thought FOR SURE he was dying. Foaming at the mouth and stiff as a board I scooped him up, ran back into the store and was screaming as tears ran down my face. "HELP! I think my dog is DYING!" The personnel at the store quickly gathered and had me lay him down on his side and said that he was having a seizure. A WHATZURE? Are you Surezure? My first question (quietly in my own little mind) was, WHAT DID YOU DO IN THERE TO MAKE HIM HAVE A SEIZURE!!!
So, that is when it started. The Vet told us that it was due to stress and anxiety. I guess that runs in the family. He gave us some Phenobarbital and we were to give it to him every day. We didn't, but he really wasn't having any more seizures. The only time he would have one was when he got groomed. We never went back to the pet store, but tried out a lady out of her home- of which he seized and gave her a tremendous scare. Then we asked the Vet if they knew of anyone and they actually had a lady in the hospital that did it and they would be able to give him care if they needed to in the event that he had a seizure.
We felt we had it under control. Not much activity going around and he was even fine while we were remodeling our other home. It was while I was packing up to move to this house that did it. It was in the morning. I had just sent Brendan off to school and let Bentley out for the morning. After he goes outside he would get in bed with me, burrowing under the covers and sleep until Addison woke up. That morning he had thirteen major seizures in a row. Being in my bed it freaked me out. He would have one that lasted about a 30 seconds and then pant for a few minutes. Then have another one that lasted about 45 seconds to a minute. One right after the other. 13 times. I called the vet the minute they opened and they had me take him right over for observation for the day. I had told them that I don't know what happened, or what changed that would make him freak out all of a sudden. Then it dawned on me. I told them that we were in the middle of a move and that I was tapping up boxes and hurrying as fast as I could because the house was getting done faster than we thought. The Vet told me that Bentley was feeling nervous about that because he was sensing that we were going to abandon him. This made total sense. He told us that we should find a boarding place until not only we were done packing, but completely moved in to our new house.
Our first born son.
Dave and Debbie have the best next door neighbors. Liz and Lisa have known Bentley since he was a baby and have taken him in as their own when Jason and I would go on vacations. Truth be told that he loved it over there and they spoiled him rotten. They called him Big Ben. They have three other dogs that are bigger than him. So we asked them if they would take him for the next 6-8 weeks so that not only could we pack up the rest of the house- but unpack and make it homey for him in the new house. They said he was acting not normal. They said that they had to even take him to the Vet just to be safe. They gave them more sedation medication to keep him at ease.
We hurried and unpacked the house in an amazing amount of time. We had furniture arranged in a way that was familiar to him. He was doing well for the first year we lived here and it just got worse and worse.
The Valium and the Phenobarbital that the Dr. prescribed for his anxiety so many years ago had been damaging his liver. He was dying of liver failure. There was really no quality of life. He couldn't control his bowels and his seizures were getting worse. The Dr. told us that we could take him home and let him live out his last days, maybe weeks, at home or we could have him humanely put to sleep. We took him home with us. We stopped to buy doggie diapers and training pads to put all over the floors. Watching him for those next two days killed Jason and I. We decided that we would take him in the next morning available and just let him go.
Look at those sad eyes.
When we got there I asked the Dr. if what we were doing was the right thing and he said "Without a doubt, this is what I was hoping you would choose." He loved Bentley too and didn't want to see him suffer. We said our last teary goodbyes as the staff got everything ready. They first gave him a dose of a sedation so his body wouldn't totally freak out.
Dr. Goode, which was his name, came in teary as he got ready to shave Bentley's leg so that he could see a vein. He got down to his face and said "Mr. B, you've been a wonderful little guy. I'm going to miss you." And as Jason and I hovered over the table we watched the lethal injection. Dr. Goode said it would only take about 10 seconds for it to work. We held on to our baby until his last breath was taken.
We decided to have him buried in our backyard because we didn't want to think of just abandoning him there. Jason and I were silent the entire ride home. Jason was holding him wrapped in a blanket. I would reach over and just pet his body over the blanket. It was surreal. Jason had dug the burial spot the night before so we just put him in a nice velvety blue blanket and Jason bent down and laid his body in there.
The kids were doing fine. Sure, they were sad, but we were actually planning on going to a trip to Moab starting that morning. They helped us and watched as we buried him. Brendan put in his grave a Cheeto, because that was his most favorite thing in the world. We also put in his favorite bath toy The Frog. Addison had picked some flowers that she thought would be pretty.
So Bentley is still with us in spirit. I know that I will see him on the other side of that Rainbow Bridge.
I got a little teary eyed reading this. I loved Bentley. When you were at work he always came and scratched at our door wanting to come in for a while. He was such a good little dog.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jessi! I didn't get this message until today. We sure loved him too!
Delete