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My Velcro's last week on earth...

Good-bye my precious Vel...

She started staying in her box a lot about 10 days ago...took her to the vet. He gave her an injection and put her on Zenequin. She took it for 3 days and quit eating altogether. Took her to another vet. He gave her another injection and put her on Clavamox for 5 days. She finished the Clavamox yesterday and stopped eating again last night. She was still in her box all the time, making tiny droplets. Took her back to the first vet today (October 17th) and he x-rayed, thinking she might have bladder stones. But he found two tumors in her bladder. He said they weren't there when he examined her the first time...he knew because when he felt her bladder, it felt a little bit "hard"...but this wasn't there. So it was something very fast-growing. And it was causing her to feel like she needed to urinate all the time, because it was inside her bladder. He said that if she were 7 years old and healthy, he'd recommend surgery in a minute. But at her age of 19-1/2 years, plus the fact that she has lost so much weight and was so weak, he was afraid that she wouldn't survive the anesthestic. And even if he was able to remove the tumors, she might have kidney failure or something else in the near future. He said he could give her a shot of Baytril with some vitamin B and it might get her back to eating for a couple of days, but she would still be in the box all the time. He was so very kind and helpful. He let us just stay in the room for an hour or so, thinking about what to do and visiting with her. After trying to think clearly on such short notice, we decided it would be best to go ahead and let her go. I didn't want to put her through anesthesia and surgery that might not even work anyway. He said even if he were able to remove the tumors, if they were carcinomas, they could have already spread elsewhere in her body. She was such a brave, tough little girl. She fought right up to the end. But I just couldn't bear to put her through more pain and stress, when she might not even survive the surgery. It broke my heart to give her up. I've had her so long...and just lost Bonita in July at the same age. She had such a long and healthy life. I know there was nothing that could have been done differently. Even if we had taken her in earlier, they wouldn't have suspected this. So my little friend, Velcro, is at the Rainbow Bridge now...I'm sure she has already located Fred, her very best friend in the world here. I can't tell you how much I am going to miss this little girl. She was the best!