Last night was not a happy one in our home. Agua Dulce Mighty Special RAE MX MXS MXJ MJG NF, our Smidge, has died. She was only seven.
Four weeks ago to the day she was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic liver cancer. Shortly after her last agility competition five weekends ago she began exhibiting symptoms that were initially diagnosed as pancreatitis. Additional investigation revealed terminal liver cancer. We were told she had days to live.
We elected palliative care, making her as comfortable as possible and letting her live her normal life as completely as we could. It’s what I would want for myself under similar circumstances.
She had four weeks of happy life after her diagnosis, eating food she liked, getting lots of love, running an agility course every now and again. Yesterday she began failing very rapidly.
The picture above was taken a few weeks ago when our friends did something very special for Smidge and us. As of her last official agility competition Smidge was just 10 points short of the 750 needed for her Master Agility Championship (MACH).
My wife and Smidge had attended an agility competition in which Smidge had been slated to complete but was unable due to her health. At the end of the competition, the bars on the jumps were lowered and Smidge went on a final agility run. When she completed it she was given an honorary MACH bar, signed just as would have happened officially if she had been able to complete her MACH as she surely would have. We were tremendously touched. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Mighty special, indeed.
Now there’s a Smidge-shaped hole in our pack and in our hearts.
Condolences.
So sorry to hear this news.
So sad, but what a beautiful send off.
Condolences and congrats on good friends who would help make that come true.
Steve
The canine agility community is a community in the best sense of the word—people who care about each other and take care of each other.
It was a great day and to be able to do a living memorial was a gift.
Condolences. To me, it seems like you just lost Tally(?). You do care for them like family members, but as people did in past times. It is an outstanding character trait, but those are old-fashioned.