Too Stubborn to Die

I first saw Brandywyn in November 2000, I think.  She was on a poster in the stairwell of a building on campus, where my wife was studying.  It read “Beautiful Yellow Labrador Found Wandering Fall Creek Park”, or something to that effect, and I knew that I wanted this dog.

She was three years old at the time we met.  I later found out that she’d been used as a pawn in a marital dispute.  Brandy (whatever she was originally named) had been abandoned purposefully: dumped out of the back of a minivan by a husband wanting to punish his wife.

Before my children were born, she was my baby.  Still is, though nearly a decade later my attention is split in many more directions.

In January of 2008 she was diagnosed with a heart murmur.  We were told she might live another 3 to 6 months.  That was nearly 2½ years ago.  Now at age 12½, she’s become progressively lamer in the back legs and her breathing is sometimes laboured, but she’s still alive.  More importantly, she seems to want to keep living.

I love her, and I wouldn’t let her suffer if it seemed like she was in that state, but I don’t see that.  I know suffering when I see it.  I provided palliative care for Murphy, my Golden Retriever, who suffered what was believed to be stroke, then died of a brain tumour.

With Brandy I see discomfort, but not suffering.

I see a dog that’s excited to eat every morning.  One that loves to watch people and birds, and bask in the warm sunshine.  One that continues to occasionally growl and snap at our younger dogs, just to remind them that whatever states she’s in, she’s still Alpha.  And they fear and respect her.

I still hope that Brandy will go quietly in her sleep, and save me the pain of having to euthanize her, but until she loses the will to live I’ll continue to care for her every day.

What’s helped:

• Prescription for Furosemide 20mg. Originally 2 pills a day; now four
• Glucosamine & Chondroitin (with or without MSM), with each pill embedded in ½ marshmallow (twist, don’t cut)
• Allicin Rich Garlic
• Same activities as always: outside time, car rides
• Physical assistance with movement, but no outright carrying

As soon as you begin to treat a dog like an invalid, they’ll become one.  As soon as you deprive them from the activities they enjoy, their life becomes empty.

Some things, like diet (and especially sodium) have to change significantly, but the more constants that remain the longer and happier your pet’s life will be.