Birthday Dog

Today is Murphy's tenth birthday and I nearly had him put down. He was so weak yesterday that he could barely walk. He fell down the stairs and nearly drowned in the pond. Getting into the pond, his legs collapsed sending his head under water while his stomach and back legs were splayed on the edging. He couldn't get up and was under water for several seconds until I could rescue him. He shook like a leaf after that and later I noticed that blood was pouring from his side which he cut on the rocks. The pond is frothy from all of the blood in it.

For the rest of the day he was shaky. He would take a few steps and fall down. Not wanting him to suffer, I made an appointment with the vet to put him down. The fist available appointment was for today.

I called in sick to work so that we could spend Murphy's last day together, but I couldn't have been much fun for Murph to put up with. I sobbed for hours and shook from heartbreak.

This morning I got up early to prepare and Murph was fine. He ate his Birthday steak for breakfast and is walking well, for him.

I took him to the vet anyway to get medication for him. He's now on large doses of steroids, antibiotics and if he seems to be in pain, I have pain meds for him.

I don't think that Murph has much time left, but he has surprised me before. The vet originally didn't think that he would make it past March or April, but he made it to his birthday. Every day is precious.