Goodbye MooDoggie

Mushka was always his own dog and much the individualist, and so his cancer was very different than Sam's cancer. That didn't make the last few days, and especially today, any easier.
After doing more research on the tumor growing on his spleen and liver, we realized we were gambling with time if we kept him for very long. His fever kept cycling higher and his appetite was diminishing even while offering him chicken. We spent all day Friday and Saturday with him trying desperately to appreciate every second. Last night and this morning we tried to use cold compresses to bring his temp down but it didn’t seem to work. He ate a small breakfast and we gave him his meds but the fever stayed high.
Today, six months after we lost Sam, we had to say goodbye to Mushka. Dr. Stoll and Charman came to the house at 11am and were as caring and supportive as Dr. Stoll and Dawn had been with Sam in February. Sadly, Dawn had a car accident today and wasn't able say goodbye to Mushka. Our hearts broke when we heard her news. We are very grateful that they would come to our house for our final goodbye. Mushka was not a fan of Vet offices, but did enjoy his time outside. Ever the guard dog, he got up and summoned his last bit of energy to bark at them when they came into the screen porch. We were able to calm him and had him lay down between us while they setup his IV. We were there for Sam in February and we were there for Moo today, telling him we loved him and that he was a good dog.
After Dr. Stoll and Charman left, we spent quality goodbye time with him under his favorite cherry tree. We kissed on his snout more than he ever would have allowed when he was alive. That Moo Doggie did have a kissable snout!
At 2pm we took Mushka to Southeastern Pet Cremation. Christy Blanton was there to meet us and was very supportive. She'd lost her shepherd, Fletcher, recently so we shared shepherd stories while she made a paw print of Moo's back paw. The day was eerily like our last day with Sam. We helped her place Moo in the same cremation unit where we'd said goodbye to Sam.
We chose to sit outside in our car and look at photos while the last of Moo left us. The same type of bird that flew overhead on Sam's last day was back, but this time there were two of them, flying together.
We brought Mushka home and placed him along side our SamDog.
They are with us for too short of a time, and when they go, it is so fast. Mushka was our first dog together. We adopted this four month old 32lb pup from the Chapel Hill Shelter Nov. 6th 1998 and our lives were forever changed. Today, we said goodbye to Mushka and again, our lives are forever changed.
We love you Mushka and we’ll never ever forget you.

hemangiosarcoma

I took Mushka to ECVR at noon today for his ultrasound with Dr. Dupree. Dr. Stoll called at 5pm to give us the bad news. Dr. Dupree found a mass 11cm (4 inches) on his spleen and several nodes on his liver 2.6cm. This is very bad news. The diagnosis of hemangiosarcoma has few options and very little time. Dr. Stoll explained our limited options and that she thinks this cancer is the cause of his cycling temperature.
We brought Mushka home and plan to spend as much time with him as possible but fear the possibly of his tumor rupturing.
Sunday will be 6 months since we lost SamDog. :(

cycling high to normal fever

Mushka's walking does seem to be better than last Thursday but his fever continues to cycle. Over the weekend it stayed in the 101-102 range but Tuesday morning & this morning it has been 103.3 & 103.2. Midday and evening checks of his temp show it down to 101/102 again. Dawn from ECVR call to check on him yesterday but Steve missed her call. Dr. Stoll was concerned they didn't hear back and call this morning. I explained his cycling fever and she said several things could cause an undulating fever. She explained that since the x-rays didn't show any clear signs of possible infection and his blood work isn't showing much either that she would like to have Dr. Dupree do an ultrasound. We are scheduled to take Moo to ECVR at noon on Thursday for Dr. Dupree to do an ultrasound that afternoon.
We have also noticed him sitting differently - he seems to prefer to have his legs under him like in the photo below which seems odd to us. He used to sit with his legs off to his side. Maybe there are nerve issues and the new position feels better. ?? :(

possible nerve issues

Last night we noticed Mushka seemed deflated so we took his temp. It was 103.7 so we gave him some Cephalexin we had left over from SamDog's Rx supply. (We still have his Rx drawer in the kitchen). We checked his temp several times during the night and it did come down and was 101.7 this morning. We still wanted to take him to ECVR for blood work and to be safe.
Late afternoon Dr. Stoll called with concerns about his spine or believes he is having some neurological issues. He appears to have a lack of knowledge or lack of conscious proprioception about his back feet/legs. They ran is blood work and saw his WBC were up slightly. Dr. Stoll gave us a stronger Rx antibiotic (Ciprofloxacin) and wants to see him back in two weeks.
When he came home he appeared to be having more issues walking and is still very weak. His back left foot appears to be turning under when he walks which is NOT a good sign from what we've read. We are very worried it may be Canine degenerative myelopathy
He hasn't been off leash since before his surgery and hasn't fallen anywhere in the house so we are puzzled about what could have caused this setback. Not sure if the nerve issues are even related to his surgery and how they are connected to the fever and lack of appetite.
The lack of appetite and hind leg issues brings back memories of the last weekend we had SamDog. :(