Back in early December we noticed that Albert had a little cough when exerted. We took him to our family vet who heard a slight heart murmur. They diagnosed the canine equiv of congestive heart failure. They put him on lasix at that time.
A week later he was worse. We took him to the Vet School at NCSU (North Carolina State Univ). Their cardiology dept scanned, poked and prodded him for a day. They extracted some of the fluid from around his lungs.
Pathology found carcinoma cells in the lung fluid. A best guess was that he had liver cancer and that it had metastasized.
They offered to evaluate and treat him in the Oncology department. An estimate of $6000 - 8000 to diagnose and give him chemo overwhelmed us.
Albert was 12, which is about all that's expected of Standard Schnauzers. We didn't feel the slim chance of a cure was worth making his last days so uncomfortable.
He went from a robust 48 pounds to a skin and bones 35 pounds in just a couple of weeks. He quit eating just kibble and we've had to coax him to eat with canned alpo and 'people' food. 3 days ago he quit eating entirely.
The lasix wasn't able to keep up starting last week and he labored to breath from his gut as the fluid kept his lungs from filling up. The last 2 or 3 days his bladder was leaking while he slept.
We started praying he would die in his sleep and finally acknowledged this morning that it was time.
The saddest part for me was that he never seemed to get old. His eyes and hearing were great till the end, he was alert, bright and eager to please. He was excited about going for a ride this morning. The cancer had destroyed him from the inside out.
Well, I'm tearing up again. I thought I was doing better.
Thanks again to everyone for your support.