( And yes, she has got both a sausage and a toy in her mouth in the photo above. Vintage Lucy....)
Today, a quick drop- in to the vet with Lucy turned into much more. Her ear was obviously bothering her; I thought it must be a flea. The vet found a grass seed, but also found that Lucy had a serious heart murmur. He said she would probably only last another year, being at least 12 in his estimate, but that she could start an intensive treatment once she stopped being capable of going for walks.
I nearly let my jaw hit the floor once I heard him mention that the surgery for the grass seed would coast $400, specially as she was now scratching and rubbing hard at the other ear as well!
I signed the consent forms for her surgery, then left.
And then I began to do the math of how much the two ears and her heart treatment would cost. to keep Lucy alive for an extra year. And we could not do it, in any way.
With a churning gut I called the vet, and said there was no way we could get Lucy treatment for her heart and that we felt that euthanizing her was the only option. How guilty I still feel about making that decision, even though we could not have footed the bill to keep her here the extra year. It still feels awful
So at lunch time, the kids' faithful friend was put to sleep.
Here are some pics of her and the kids saying goodbye at the vet's. She was overjoyed to see us, but distracted by the irritation in both ears. (she did have grass seed in both, it turns out)
Understandably, it has been a surreal and terribly sad day, with a great many tears. Diva was especially close to Lucy; her heart is shattered.
It's funny; I called her 'dumb dog' more than I called her "Lucy', but so much of our day is linked to her, and it keeps surprising me when I don't see her little face pressed against the window, looking in hopefully for her walk.
By the way, any who are photo minded and are keen to give me constructive criticism, check out the photos at
