Losing Hank

The day after Christmas Hank was acting a little strange.  He was struggling to get up on the couch and didn't want to eat.  He would put the food in his mouth, but wouldn't chew or swallow.  So Daddy took him to the vet.  They did an ultrasound and an x-ray and discovered he had a tumor on his spleen that was bleeding.  They gave us a few options: He be put down, he goes home with medicine that will either work or not, he stays over night to be monitored, or he has surgery.  After doing some reading and considering that he was 9 and a half.  We decided to bring him home.  We didn't want to put him to sleep.  He wasn't hurting, just very tired.  So he came home late Wednesday night.  We tried to give him medicine but he didn't want to eat so we had to force it, then he threw it back up.  We sat with him, pet him and talked to him throughout the day.  Nobody really left his side the whole day.  Later in the day he started to occasionally whine like he was hurting.  Then he would stop.  When he started the second time around that evening we decided we were going to take him in, let them put him to sleep.  We didn't want him to hurt.  As we were getting ready to go we noticed he started to start breathing differently.  We gathered around him a he stopped breathing.  It was terrible to watch and I seriously regret letting the kids watch the last minute.  It did not look easy.  We're so grateful that it was quick, that he wasn't miserable for long.  It happened quickly and while it was terrible it was so unexpected I'm glad it was a short time.  Of course, everyone was and is, devastated.  Kayda is having a particularly hard time, she is very sensitive.

He was a really good dog.  There is no way we could ever find another like him so I really don't think we'll ever get another one.  He was about as perfect a dog we could have for our family.  He only ever wanted to be with us, no matter where we were going.  There are plenty of regrets, for trips we took without him, or not taking him out a lot, but in general I think he had a good life with us.  He will be missed terribly.