Fozzie 1998-2009
Fozzie died today.
He was pretty old for a Bouvier, or any dog his size; would have been 11 in December. But what got him was sudden: aggressive cancer that blocked his small bile duct and kept his liver from doing its job. I knew something was very wrong when he wouldn't eat - if there's one thing Fozzie has always had, it's a voracious appetite. It's been a struggle to keep his weight down in double digits the past few years since his arthritis slowed him down and he wasn't burning off as many calories running around the backyard like he was on fire. But he still had the enthusiasm and energy of a puppy right up until the past few days. Funny how we only have pictures of him sleeping or sitting when he was so rarely still for any amount of time.
I held him while the vet put him under. The morphine eased his pain to the point where he got some of his appetite back and ate some treats before he drifted off.
I was trying to find something I wrote ten years ago when he was a puppy and I was trying to housetrain him. It was a silly little thing putting the whole thing as a text adventure game from his point of view, called "Fozzork". But it appears that story is also gone.
Living with Fozzie wasn't always easy. He's had issues since we got him, and as he got older he only got crazier. But he was still, all in all, a good dog, and I will miss him.
Good-bye, Fozzbucket.
ETA: Jody's entry on losing Fozz.