Dear friends - I come back with a heavy heart, to let you know that I finally had to let my dear boy cross the Rainbow Bridge on May 18th at 12:45pm. Alpha Romeo had turned 12 in December, and I knew this year was his last. I struggled when to let him go, and friends assured me that he would let me know... and he did Tuesday morning.
He was born in 1997 with hip dysplasia, and thankfully that was the only real illness (other than hypothyroidism) until the age of almost 10. He showed the symptoms of Cushings for about 6 months before I could get a vet to actually listen to me -- he was finally diagnosed in December 2008, after an ultrasound and xray showed the tumor, along with the heart murmur. He'd been on L-thyroxine, Selegiline and Enalapril since then.
About six months ago, the symptoms got worse, including cataracts, dementia, circling, confusion, change in bowel movements, triple the water consumption, and more.
Full blindness came on suddenly about 5 days ago. He couldn't find the dog door, urinated in the kitchen, and outside started circling frantically crying out in fear. He had been falling down (losing back leg strength), missing the steps, and I knew he needed his dignity back.
He went from a healthy 75 lbs. down to 62 lbs. The quality of life was gone.
On Tuesday morning, I had not slept the entire night, as I heard him for 10 hours circling, banging into walls, crying out, panting, and distressed. When I finally got out of bed, his head was shaking with some sort of seizure, which went on for about an hour.
I knew it was time. He was the MOST AMAZING DOG... incredibly loving. Sweet, devoted, greeted me with his squeaky ball at the door every day. I held him as he was born, rubbing him with a towel for his first breath, and I held his paw and kissed his beautiful nose as his heart stopped beating.
I want you all to know that he was on this planet and blessed my life like you can't imagine!
Alpha Romeo was the only male dog I've ever had. I say that he was a Sheprador (Shepherd/Labrador). I loved him more deeply than I've ever loved a dog. My heart is broken.
I put two dog tributes on Youtube, if anyone is interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arGmxOlGjBk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwV4dhB3c6U
I will be forever Alpha's mom.