We lost Blackie on Friday October 6, 2017. He was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in January of 2014 and at the time he already had a lot of muscle atrophy in his rear legs. Our veterinarian put him on lots of pain medications and told us that there was no cure for the disease. And it would get very bad for him. And it did.
A few months after the diagnosis, he couldn't jump into the back of our SUV by himself anymore. He'd walk out to get in the car and he'd stand up and put his front legs on the back and we'd have to help him get his rear into the car. He could always jump out by himself and he loved to go for rides in any car any time of day.
By January of this year, we had to pick him up to get him into the 4Runner as he couldn't jump at all anymore. By this June on a trip to Ruidoso, he couldn't walk up two steps to get into a cabin we rented. That's when things started getting really bad for him. The rapid deterioration of his back legs led to him not even being able to stand up by himself by July. The vet put him on even more pain pills and recommended a harness we could put on him to help him get up. He did okay on the new harness for about a month before he started having some type of pain that was causing him to pant constantly and drink lots, and I mean, lots of water everyday. We had tests for everything and they couldn't find a cause so we just had to deal with him as he was. A geriatric puppy who still thought he was a three-month old pup.
In the last two weeks, his front legs would no longer hold him up most of the time and he'd lay down wherever we helped him lay down. The poor guy had two modes, asleep and panting if he wasn't asleep. He finally couldn't even stand up to relieve himself.
It was painful to watch him go downhill so quickly and even more painful to know that it was never going to get better for him. He was such a great and happy pup even in pain. Everyone who knew him loved him dearly and we are all so very sad that he's gone now. As the Irish always say, "May he rest in peace." We miss you so very much little pup.
