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I have been putting this off for two months, but here goes. Boston got very sick in July and Robin and I made the decision to have the veterinarian euthanize him. He was diagnosed with pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer and lung cancer. He stopped eating and drinking and when we were able to get him to eat something, he almost immediately vomited it back up. He spent the past two years on a daily diet of precisely measured prescription dog food and one dry, tasteless diabetic dog biscuit that he thought was the best treat in the world. When he stopped eating his dog food the doctor told us to feed him anything that we could get him to eat. We made him scrambled eggs, boiled chicken, peanut butter sandwiches and tuna, and this little dog that used to eat his 1 ½ cups of prescription dog food in a matter of minutes, wouldn’t touch the ‘human’ food that we were offering him now. This little kid that took the various pills that we gave him daily like they were candy would no longer swallow anything that we tried to get him to take. And when we were able to force them down his throat, they came right back up five minutes later.

It was beyond tragic.

He was lethargic and yet anxious at the same time because he was having difficulty breathing, he was taking shallow, rapid breaths and his discomfort was heartbreaking. He wasn’t eating anything and yet he ‘asked’ to go outside frequently and he tried and tried to poop and nothing came out and he was just miserable.

Boston started to show signs of being sick on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, he wouldn’t sleep at night on our bed, he’d jump down and lay under a chair in the corner of our bedroom. Over the next few days he started vomiting and began to lose his appetite. Things went from bad to worse over the weekend and when Monday came we took him to the vet the minute they opened their door. The doctor was very concerned and he had us admit Boston for the day so that they could get an I.V. in him to treat his dehydration, they ran blood and urine tests, took x-rays and also did an ultrasound. It took two more days to get the results of all the tests and on a Wednesday afternoon the doctor called and gave us the diagnosis that Boston had pancreatitis and cancer. It was one really shitty phone call.

Boston hadn’t been groomed for over a month and he was really furry. This may sound odd but we just wanted to get him cleaned up a bit for the time that he had left. Boston liked being groomed, and he was always a bit of a diva for a while after he’d been to the beauty parlor. Robin found a groomer that would allow her to be with him while he was getting his haircut, and Boston allowed the groomer to do her thing for a little while before he just kind of had enough. The picture below taken by the groomer is the semi-finished product, you wouldn’t know that he was a very sick little schnauzer boy.

Anyway, we held out hope that the pancreatitis would run its course and we would have our little boy for a few more weeks or even months before the cancer took him.

No such luck.

Two days after we got the call from the vet about Boston’s diagnosis, he was getting worse not better, and he was suffering. Robin and I made the decision that we would put an end to his pain and we took him to the vet one last time. Boston laid in Robin’s lap and soaked in her love on the car ride to the vet. We carried him into an exam room that had a view of the street and damned if our mean little schnauzer didn’t see a dog walking by and he barked at it. Vintage Boston, feisty little kid to the end.