Some very sad news

When we have the dogs in the house, I have a large entourage. All of them will follow me except for Tira. Tira chooses Pete. She follows him and sleeps by his side of the bed. She adores him, and Pete just loves her to bits. Her nicknames are Tira-MA-soo, or Tip-toe Tira, which was shortened to Tippy.

Tippy has been not quite right for a little while. She was a bit pear shaped in her body...her stomach seemed droopy. When we returned from Toronto her stomach was huge, yet we could feel her spine. Mark, our Vet, was concerned when he saw her and weighed her in at 22 pounds. Not overweight, but her stomach was distended. On exam, he was guarded. It didn't feel good, he said. He felt a mass on one side, but wanted to confirm with X-rays and ultrasound. I left her there for an hour and returned to the news I didn't want to hear. Tira has about 7 tumors and has very little time left. They are inoperable as they involve the spleen, the small intestine and maybe the liver. I saw the X-ray and her body is full of very large tumors. She rode home on my lap and I drove with tears in my eyes. So for the rest of her days, she will be loved and spoiled...she'll have all the treats she wants, even ice cream, that's her favourite.

I was looking through my files for pictures of her on our walks, but couldn't find many. That is because she's usually by my side or a little behind. So this was taken a half hour ago in the kitchen with her grandmother Gabrielle...looking for some cheese.

Damn this is hard.