Laddie

Laddie
April 14, 2000- May 20, 2011 

Monday, May 14th:
"He is terminal," said the vet.  "One of his kidneys is twice the normal size and they are barely functioning."  Laddie was in kidney failure and he probably had bladder or kidney cancer, or both.

Since he didn't seem to be in any pain my dad decided,  that he wanted to have a few more days with him before we put him to sleep.  We decided to wait until Friday, May 20th.(Which, coincidentally) is my aunt's birthday and the anniversary of my grandmother's death.)

Several months ago, my family and I started to realize that there was something wrong with Laddie. (In the back of my mind I always suspected cancer, maybe because of my history).  We noticed that he was almost constantly leaking urine.  He would get up from the floor and there would always be a puddle behind.  He didn't seem to even notice what he was doing.   And this was the dog that was housebroken in  a week and never had an accident in the house.

Initially the vet thought, or maybe just hoped, that he had an infection.  Laddie was on antibiotics for a few weeks, but they didn't help.  He then went to vet for blood work and a x-ray.  Which showed the vet how bad his condition was.  Poor Laddie.

Laddie was a good dog,  He loved carrots and stuffed animals.  He thought all cats were his friends and never seemed to understand why the neighborhood cats ran away from him.  He always looked upset when it happened.  His best friend was my cat Oreo.  From the day we brought Oreo home the two were inseparable.  I don't know how Oreo is going to react to the loss of his buddy.  He will be missed.

I Love You, Laddie.