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I haven’t been here for a while and I dare say there’s a lot of people who don’t know me. I hope some of you remember me, but more importantly, my beloved best friend, our rescue dog Jimmy.
Sadly, we lost Jimmy on Thursday 23.3.23. He’s battled cancer for just under a year – 11 months in fact – having had tumours in his bladder, kidneys, adrenal gland, and prostate. He was also diagnosed with a faulty heart valve. He was given 2-6 months to live if I recall correctly, yet he made it to over 11 months. Despite all of these problems, he continued to be a loving, active and friendly dog, involved in all of our family activities. I am so glad he had Christmas with us, and then earlier this month my birthday and wedding anniversary.
Jimmy battled in good spirits and shrugged of everything that came his way, including multiple visits to the vet for injections, blood samples and ultrasound scans and us giving him various tablets and other types of medications at home which he disliked with a vengeance. He dealt with all of this and whilst very, very stressed during these times (like I was), he just got on with it and took in everything in good spirits. I could never undergo what he’s had to put up with and remain so happy with my lot. He truly is a hero. My hero.
We tried chemotherapy some months ago, however this didn’t agree with Jimmy and seeing the symptoms of this was difficult to say the least – urinating blood and passing large clots, and the pads on his paws turning as pink as my skin. Still, he just got on with it never deviating from his good nature and his need to be loved and cuddled by us, which we needed too.
Throughout his illness, Jimmy’s quality of life was as good as it could be. Whilst his bladder tumour did affect the way he urinated, he was still able to go. His appetite, zest for life, walkies and cuddles remained almost until his last day. I will always ask myself though, did we do enough? Was there anything we could have done differently? Our priority to was to give Jimmy the best life we could, we decided to move away from chemotherapy due to his bad reaction and the relatively low success rates of other treatments (around 30%) and the associated high risks. As recently as a week or so ago, we were exploring radiotherapy options and whilst we knew that this would not cure Jimmy, there was hope from us that it may have extended his time with us as we love him so much. Sadly, this option was taken out of our hands.
Jimmy’s condition deteriorated over the last week. He became listless, was eating less and less (then not at all), and overnight on Wednesday was drooling a gloopy saliva-like substance (some online research suggested this might be as a result of a medication he had been given, but this was not the case apparently). He was up every 15-30 minutes wanting to go out for a wee, and staying in the garden just staring at nothing, then just sitting out in the rain which he’s never done before. He couldn’t drink due to the gloop in his mouth, I found an old syringe from an earlier medication of his and used this, with varying success, to gently squirt some water into his mouth. We knew we had to seek expert help for him, and we took him to the specialist vet as an emergency.
After some triage, we were advised that Jimmy was dying. He was very poorly, and to cut a long and harrowing discussion short, we were advised that the best course of action – morally and clinically – was to let him go. I don’t think I’ve ever been so upset. We got to say goodbye, but what a terrible thing it was. I was in bits, as was my wife. I still am, if I’m honest.
A few days later, and I’m still so upset it’s hard to find the words. I am crying typing this. I miss him so, so much. He was like a soulmate. He was interested in everything I did. The house is so empty without him, even more so now we’ve started to tidy up some of his bits and pieces. I don’t know what else to say. My wife and I are just desperately sad, distraught and all the other words you can think of to describe this upsetting situation.
Jimmy was our first dog. He taught us so much. He had a tough start in life, yet despite that he loved people of all ages – even protective of a stranger once who was in in danger – and grew to become friendly towards other dogs, something we first struggled with when he first joined us back on 8.9.16.
Anyway, it’s a long post I know, but I hope it reflects the adoration my wife and I had – and still have – for Jimmy and the emotional torment his passing away is having on us. We continue to love everything about him – his silky soft fluffy ears, his fluffy coat, his joyful personality, his need to cuddles and human contact. The list is long, I could go on forever (you already have, I hear some of you say!).
Rest in peace Jimmy. You made such a wonderful, permanent impression on our family and we miss you desperately.
Sadly, we lost Jimmy on Thursday 23.3.23. He’s battled cancer for just under a year – 11 months in fact – having had tumours in his bladder, kidneys, adrenal gland, and prostate. He was also diagnosed with a faulty heart valve. He was given 2-6 months to live if I recall correctly, yet he made it to over 11 months. Despite all of these problems, he continued to be a loving, active and friendly dog, involved in all of our family activities. I am so glad he had Christmas with us, and then earlier this month my birthday and wedding anniversary.
Jimmy battled in good spirits and shrugged of everything that came his way, including multiple visits to the vet for injections, blood samples and ultrasound scans and us giving him various tablets and other types of medications at home which he disliked with a vengeance. He dealt with all of this and whilst very, very stressed during these times (like I was), he just got on with it and took in everything in good spirits. I could never undergo what he’s had to put up with and remain so happy with my lot. He truly is a hero. My hero.
We tried chemotherapy some months ago, however this didn’t agree with Jimmy and seeing the symptoms of this was difficult to say the least – urinating blood and passing large clots, and the pads on his paws turning as pink as my skin. Still, he just got on with it never deviating from his good nature and his need to be loved and cuddled by us, which we needed too.
Throughout his illness, Jimmy’s quality of life was as good as it could be. Whilst his bladder tumour did affect the way he urinated, he was still able to go. His appetite, zest for life, walkies and cuddles remained almost until his last day. I will always ask myself though, did we do enough? Was there anything we could have done differently? Our priority to was to give Jimmy the best life we could, we decided to move away from chemotherapy due to his bad reaction and the relatively low success rates of other treatments (around 30%) and the associated high risks. As recently as a week or so ago, we were exploring radiotherapy options and whilst we knew that this would not cure Jimmy, there was hope from us that it may have extended his time with us as we love him so much. Sadly, this option was taken out of our hands.
Jimmy’s condition deteriorated over the last week. He became listless, was eating less and less (then not at all), and overnight on Wednesday was drooling a gloopy saliva-like substance (some online research suggested this might be as a result of a medication he had been given, but this was not the case apparently). He was up every 15-30 minutes wanting to go out for a wee, and staying in the garden just staring at nothing, then just sitting out in the rain which he’s never done before. He couldn’t drink due to the gloop in his mouth, I found an old syringe from an earlier medication of his and used this, with varying success, to gently squirt some water into his mouth. We knew we had to seek expert help for him, and we took him to the specialist vet as an emergency.
After some triage, we were advised that Jimmy was dying. He was very poorly, and to cut a long and harrowing discussion short, we were advised that the best course of action – morally and clinically – was to let him go. I don’t think I’ve ever been so upset. We got to say goodbye, but what a terrible thing it was. I was in bits, as was my wife. I still am, if I’m honest.
A few days later, and I’m still so upset it’s hard to find the words. I am crying typing this. I miss him so, so much. He was like a soulmate. He was interested in everything I did. The house is so empty without him, even more so now we’ve started to tidy up some of his bits and pieces. I don’t know what else to say. My wife and I are just desperately sad, distraught and all the other words you can think of to describe this upsetting situation.
Jimmy was our first dog. He taught us so much. He had a tough start in life, yet despite that he loved people of all ages – even protective of a stranger once who was in in danger – and grew to become friendly towards other dogs, something we first struggled with when he first joined us back on 8.9.16.
Anyway, it’s a long post I know, but I hope it reflects the adoration my wife and I had – and still have – for Jimmy and the emotional torment his passing away is having on us. We continue to love everything about him – his silky soft fluffy ears, his fluffy coat, his joyful personality, his need to cuddles and human contact. The list is long, I could go on forever (you already have, I hear some of you say!).
Rest in peace Jimmy. You made such a wonderful, permanent impression on our family and we miss you desperately.
