My darling Revel, my first sheltie and my heart dog left me today to make his journey to Rainbow Bridge. After two weeks of good health, he relapsed suddenly again last night with another episode of sickness and diarrhoea. He did appear to recover this morning and I felt OK to leave him and go to work, keeping a eye on my webcam. Unfortunately today of all days the server went down so I got my friend/dog sitter to go in and he had been sick again and wasn't looking good, so I came straight back home.
Unlike the previous time when he had been quite peaceful and relaxed, he gradually became increasingly agitated during the afternoon. I had made an appointment with the vet earlier to get some bloods taken, because this was presenting as a pattern (following a similar mild episode on Saturday night) so after spending the afternoon with him, I took him straight up there. He wasn't happy in the car either. The vet confirmed he had a fever and was dehydrated and I had two options. Have the blood work done in house or make the decision straight away. I wanted to be sure, to know what we were dealing with so had the blood test and Revel was put on a drip and some metacam while I stayed with him in the vet kennel. The blood test results were back in about an hour and showed elevated white cells and clear signs of major kidney infection/failure and some long term damage. He hadn't shown any of the classic signs of kidney failure (drinking/urination) but obviously it had been going on in the background. The vet did not think there was any good prognosis, which made my decision for me.
He went to sleep, very peacefully in my arms. He would have been 17 years old in ten days time, I feel so privileged to have shared his life for so long. I wish I could have been as nice a person as he was a dog, because he was a Sheltie Gentleman, loved by so many. Although my heart is breaking tonight, I'm happy because he lived to the absolute fullness of his years and he Lived. We did so much in our time together, I grew up with him and I am who I am because of him.
Run free my darling, wonderful boy to the Bridge, to Yogi, Merlin, Poppy and CK who went before you.
Be young, play and bark.
I love you so very much xxxx
Unlike the previous time when he had been quite peaceful and relaxed, he gradually became increasingly agitated during the afternoon. I had made an appointment with the vet earlier to get some bloods taken, because this was presenting as a pattern (following a similar mild episode on Saturday night) so after spending the afternoon with him, I took him straight up there. He wasn't happy in the car either. The vet confirmed he had a fever and was dehydrated and I had two options. Have the blood work done in house or make the decision straight away. I wanted to be sure, to know what we were dealing with so had the blood test and Revel was put on a drip and some metacam while I stayed with him in the vet kennel. The blood test results were back in about an hour and showed elevated white cells and clear signs of major kidney infection/failure and some long term damage. He hadn't shown any of the classic signs of kidney failure (drinking/urination) but obviously it had been going on in the background. The vet did not think there was any good prognosis, which made my decision for me.
He went to sleep, very peacefully in my arms. He would have been 17 years old in ten days time, I feel so privileged to have shared his life for so long. I wish I could have been as nice a person as he was a dog, because he was a Sheltie Gentleman, loved by so many. Although my heart is breaking tonight, I'm happy because he lived to the absolute fullness of his years and he Lived. We did so much in our time together, I grew up with him and I am who I am because of him.
Run free my darling, wonderful boy to the Bridge, to Yogi, Merlin, Poppy and CK who went before you.
Be young, play and bark.
I love you so very much xxxx
We were all blessed with your wonderful stories of Revel. Run free dear Revel.