Rufus crossed the bridge...
Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 11:05 pm
Our little old doggie Rufus crossed the bridge...
He was the stray I brought home from work about 3 years ago. The vet put his age at around 18 years. We just lost our kitty Coe in August, when suddenly one night Rufus started coughing. I thought he'd swallowed something, but around 4 a.m. he was gasping for breath. I rushed him to the 24 hour vet where they kept him for tests for 48 hours. He was diagnosed with heart and kidney failure. I guess he'd kind of had a heart attack. I wasn't ready to let go of him so I took him home along with a bag full of meds. Unfortunately they made him have seizures, so we decided to stop them and let him go naturally.
We made him as comfortable as possible. He wasn't in any pain, just tired all the time. But then he began to swell from the fluids that accumulate with heart and kidney disease. We carried him outside and in, picked him up to sleep with us and watch tv, like he always had. Neither of us got much sleep, getting up several times each night to take him out to pee. But we kept his routine as normal as possible. He slept between us and the other 3 indoor doggies. I eventually had to give him some diuretics because he became so swollen around the middle.
God let us keep him until the day before yesterday. I had started coming home every day at lunch to check on him. But Thursday morning I could tell something was wrong. In the middle of eating his breakfast, he suddenly turned away and went to lay on his pillow on our bed. I called work and said I'd be a little late and laid back down with him for a little while. John had already gone to work, but for some reason, knew he needed to come home, so he took the day off. I came home for lunch and we talked about whether to take Rufus to the vet, but decided it would scare him too much. I laid him in my lap while I ate lunch, shared a few bites with him, which made him wag his tale. He gave me a slurpy kiss goodbye when I went back to work at 2:00.
At 4:45 p.m., I received a text from John. He had carried Rufie outside to pee, and then went in to lay down for a nap. Ruf snuggled up against his back and they fell asleep. An hour later John woke up and realized that Rufus had died in his sleep...no struggle, no pain, he never even woke up. God is so good to his little ones. What a beautiful way to end our time on earth. We are still struggling with the loss of our dear Rufus. I could fill buckets with the tears, but I know he's in a much better place, waiting till we are together again one day.
![Angel :angel:](./images/smilies/icon_angel.gif)
He was the stray I brought home from work about 3 years ago. The vet put his age at around 18 years. We just lost our kitty Coe in August, when suddenly one night Rufus started coughing. I thought he'd swallowed something, but around 4 a.m. he was gasping for breath. I rushed him to the 24 hour vet where they kept him for tests for 48 hours. He was diagnosed with heart and kidney failure. I guess he'd kind of had a heart attack. I wasn't ready to let go of him so I took him home along with a bag full of meds. Unfortunately they made him have seizures, so we decided to stop them and let him go naturally.
We made him as comfortable as possible. He wasn't in any pain, just tired all the time. But then he began to swell from the fluids that accumulate with heart and kidney disease. We carried him outside and in, picked him up to sleep with us and watch tv, like he always had. Neither of us got much sleep, getting up several times each night to take him out to pee. But we kept his routine as normal as possible. He slept between us and the other 3 indoor doggies. I eventually had to give him some diuretics because he became so swollen around the middle.
God let us keep him until the day before yesterday. I had started coming home every day at lunch to check on him. But Thursday morning I could tell something was wrong. In the middle of eating his breakfast, he suddenly turned away and went to lay on his pillow on our bed. I called work and said I'd be a little late and laid back down with him for a little while. John had already gone to work, but for some reason, knew he needed to come home, so he took the day off. I came home for lunch and we talked about whether to take Rufus to the vet, but decided it would scare him too much. I laid him in my lap while I ate lunch, shared a few bites with him, which made him wag his tale. He gave me a slurpy kiss goodbye when I went back to work at 2:00.
At 4:45 p.m., I received a text from John. He had carried Rufie outside to pee, and then went in to lay down for a nap. Ruf snuggled up against his back and they fell asleep. An hour later John woke up and realized that Rufus had died in his sleep...no struggle, no pain, he never even woke up. God is so good to his little ones. What a beautiful way to end our time on earth. We are still struggling with the loss of our dear Rufus. I could fill buckets with the tears, but I know he's in a much better place, waiting till we are together again one day.