Toasty’s Story of Courage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jan 20, 1998 – June 14, 2008 

Akita Chow Chow Mix 

Diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma May 14, 2008

 

Our precious Toasty came into our lives when he was 8 weeks old.  I was recently divorced and my sister and I decided to purchase a home together and to become parents to a furry bundle of love.  About a month later, we were told by our trainer that Akita Chows are very aggressive, smart and territorial and that we must make sure that we are the “Alpha Dog” in the home.  Needless to say this scared us.  We immediately enrolled in an extensive training class with a highly recommended trainer and Toasty immediately became the joy and love of the class.  He was extremely smart and would only do what he wanted to do when he was ready to do it.  At one point, the trainer took him from me so that she could get him to act quicker on command.  Toasty sat on the trainer’s feet with his back to her and would not look in her direction.  The trainer could not stop laughing, and said that Toasty knew exactly what he was doing and he was a very smart dog!

 

Toasty grew up to be a very sweet and lovable dog.  He always jumped on strangers and greeted them.  Even at the age of 8 people always thought he was a young pup, because of his energy.  He was never really sick, only if he ate something that disagreed with him, such as table food.  So one day when we noticed that he was very drowsy and not eating his food we figured it was his stomach and he just needed to eat grass or vomit out whatever was ailing him.  However, by the second night he was extremely lethargic and his eyes did not look right.  We took him to the vet and she said that his abdomen was filled with blood.  She showed us the blood in the vial that she had drawn from that area and said that it was not coagulating.  She then said that we should take him home and make him comfortable and in the morning she would operate and see what was going on.  She stated that it was probably cancer and that if it had spread she would have to put him to sleep on the surgery table.  My sister and I were in complete and utter shock.  We thought he had a stomach ache and here he was on his last day of life.  We immediately called all of our family and everyone came by and said their goodbyes to our Dear One.  We told Toasty that everything would be alright and that the doctor was going to fix him up and make him feel better. 

 

The next day, the doctor performed the surgery, removed his spleen and said that it had not spread.  We were told that he did very well and got up immediately after surgery and was walking with no problem.  We took him home thankful that he was still with us and that he was okay.  Ten days later when we took him back to have his stitches removed, the doctor confirmed that it was cancer and that he had 3-6 months to live.  We were again devastated.  Surgery was May 14, every day after that was spent caring for Toasty and making sure he had as much fun and love that he could stand.  Toasty has a brother, an English Springer Spaniel, Buddy, and he was with him every step of the way as well.  Around June 3, we had to rush Toasty to the emergency room because his breathing was irregular.  All the way to the vet, Toasty road with his head through our sun roof.  Once there he was his usual frisky self and the doctor wanted to know why we brought him in.  We gave him the full background, but he did not see anything wrong.  For the next week Toasty seemed to be a little sick.  He was NOT his usual self.  June 12, we were out of food, so my sister went to the vet to purchase his favorite food and discussed Toasty with the vet.  She told us that she had removed the cancer and that there were only small seeds left.  The seeds would take a while to grow so we had nothing to worry about for a while.  She said her partner, who told us that he had 3-6 months to live, is very pessimistic and goes strictly by the text books.  She believes, that Toasty would certainly make it through the summer and possibly 2-3 years more.  This was coming from the vet who had performed the surgery, so we were elated.  A load had been lifted.  This feeling lasted about 8 hours.  On June 13, at 10:00 pm, Toasty had a seizure.  We called the emergency room, they said keep him home and calm and watch him.  Call back if he has another one.  Around 2:30 am, Toasty had 3 more seizures in a row.  He could not stand up without falling, he was weak, he was disoriented.  Somehow we managed to get him in the car and to the emergency room.  After drawing blood, it showed that his blood count was 23 which meant he was probably bleeding again.  We had to decide if we wanted to try medication to stop the seizures and take him home or if it was now time to let him go to his final home.  If we put him on the phenoylbarbital , he would still have trouble breathing, he would still bleed internally from the cancer and it was only a matter of time.  After a long, agonizing 2 hours, we decided to try the medication and then go to the regular vet in the morning.  As soon as we came to this decision, Toasty started to tremble and he looked as if he was in pain.  We knew we could not prolong what we knew was the right decision.  At 4:35am June 14, we said good bye, until later, to our beloved Toasty.

 

This was truly a bad rollercoaster ride for our entire family.  Only through the Lord did we make it through and we are grateful for the love and joy that Toasty brought to our lives.  We have a memorial plaque in our backyard by the waterfall in the garden.  This was his favorite spot to sit and patrol the yard for squirrels and rabbits.  Once he saw one, he would fly through all the flowers full speed ahead on chase!  We know he is somewhere now, chasing to his hearts content!! 

 

The main thing we learned through all of this is that, you know your pet/family the best and trust your own judgment.  If you think your dog does not look well, he probably does not.  Doctors do not always have the last word.  If the doctor tells you your pet may have 6 months to live, but he looks lethargic and is not his usual self, please do not ignore signs that are in front of you.  Always look into your pet’s eyes and you will have your answer.

 

We love and miss you deeply, Toasty! 

 

Your family,

 

Pat, Denise and Buddy