I've known it's coming. My little Wendel was diagnosed with congenital heart failure in the fall, and I've been trying to steel myself and mentally prepare for the inevitable. But you just can't prepare for this.
Just about every day for the last week I've gotten packed up to drive my dog to the vet, but he always sprung back after some pain meds. But tonight he just couldn't sit comfortably, was coughing way more than usual, struggling to breathe... It was time.
He hasn't been able to tolerate the cold, even like -1°, so I take him to Home Depot, Michael's, Lowe's, etc. to go for a walks. At first I was feeling guilty about taking my dogs into a store---even ones that say, 'bring your dog.' I'd never done it before, and I probably never will again. But pretty quick we became regulars and many of the staff were so excited to see him.
About 18 months ago my pug died, and it took Wendel six months to get over it. They've been together for about 12+ years. I got another dog just over a year ago, and it took Wendel about three hours to come to terms with this invader, and take him under his wing.
The pug never played with Wendel, but my new puppy is a play machine. I really wish I'd gotten Wendel a playmate five years sooner, cause this last year has brought him such joy. It's also been hard to watch Wendel struggle to keep up
One of the most upsetting things I've ever seen was tonight at the vet, after my dog had been euthanized, the puppy had a stuffed rabbit in his mouth and was trying to push it into Wendel's face to get him to play.
It's just so unfair that a dog with an enormous heart, and without a mean bone in his body would succumb to heart failure.
