An Honest Series of Unfortunate Events
This is just to get the word out to those who don't know. A proper and better versed edtion will be made later.
Our dog Midnight, or as properly stated on his AKC papers Midnight Island's Prince, was born to two English champion pure bred black labs. In 1993 we bought him as the runt of the litter after my uncle bought the second to last pup (Midnight's sister) not more than 8 hours prior. He was a playful summa-ma-bitch as a puppy and a bit dopey, but quiet smart and tidy. Yes, almost every morning he would bring in his bowl after he ate his breakfast. In the couple years Midnight had started to have some problems though. In 2005 he had to have 8 teeth removed as they were rotting and he had some breath that would clear out a room quicker than a dump truck full of ebola virus. Then earlier this year he began to have some serious dry skin. Dry skin was normal for him as we would usually give him some Benedryl and he'd be all set (vet's orders).
However this time it was much worse. His skin would itch so badly that he was scratching and gnawing his skin for most of the day. Some steriods from the vet, medicated shampoo, and a change in diet and it went away. Mid summer it came back. Meds and shampoo worked again, only much slower this time. Midnight had also had about 3 grand mal seizures as well from June to September. The vet thought this might be a thyroid problem even though his blood work was within normal levels. So we started him on meds for his thyroid. For the last month he was a bit sluggish. He curled up on a chair and slept a lot while drinking a lot of water and urinating a lot (side affects of the thyroid and meds for his skin) and was getting a little on the slim side.
The slim thing was alright as he was the type of dog who was pleasantly plump, but not fat. But about a week ago Midnight stopped eating. A dog that would do anything for a marshmellow now just licked at it on the floor, went to his water and drank, then laid down. We had thought maybe he had just didn't feel good as dogs (and us hind legers) do occasionally. But we noticed that after he went outside he'd reguritate the food and water. So we took him to the vet this past Wednesday. The blood work was not good. Midnights kidneys were not really functioning quite right. They were pulling water out of his system, but not much else. This was causing his liver to work harder. The strain on these organs was too much and they were begining to fail. The refusing to eat was diagnosed as an ulcerated stomach. The vet presented us with an option of hospitalization which might help him out and he might recover a bit, but there was irreversable damage done to his internal organs and would need, even after the hospitalization frequent meds and possibly injections to go on. There was no guarentee or even 80% chance this option would work. The other option was to have him put to sleep. On Friday December 1st we said goodbye to our family member of thirteen years.
From fall of 1993 until winter 2006 Midnight was a loyal and friendly companion to any and all who visited our home. Midnight old friend you will be, and are, deeply missed.
Midnight
Good men must die, but death can not kill their names
---Proverbs