Sweet Sopie Dog

Our sweet Sophie Dog went to Heaven last night.

I noticed she seemed a little bit different on Monday. She was drinking tons even though she hadn't been outside and shouldn't have been overheated.

Tuesday morning I opened the washroom door at 7a.m. to let her out, she had peed on the tile. She never pees in my house. I said something about it to Jason, but he said he had heard her bark around 5 and ignored her. I figured her potty mistake was our own fault.

Tuesday, I let her out at 11 p.m. to potty before I put her in the washroom for the night, since I knew she'd been drinking so much. At 6 a.m., I opened the door to let her out. The washroom floor was covered in pee. It had even ran under her sleep pillow, and soaked it with urine. She was just laying on her pillow like nothing was wrong! Completely out of character for her.

I put her outside, where she laid in the shade, didn't eat or drink, and didn't move. Finally, at 2 p.m., told Taylor to let her in. He called and called her, but she didn't even flinch. He had to physically carry her up on the deck.

I called the vet, but they couldn't get her in for an appt until the next morning at 9. She laid on her deck pillow from 2 pm Wed, until 8:30 the next morning, without moving. I checked her all night because I was so worried about her.

Cayden and I took her to the vet Thursday morning. She didn't have a fever, but she was way dehydrated. The vet wanted to do labs on her and said that they'd keep her for a while and give her IV fluids while they waited for the labs to come back.

The vet called at 1130 and told me that Sophie's labs and urine showed that she had a really bad kidney infection. The vet said they were starting her on IV antibiotics and to call around 5 to check on her.

At 2:00 the vet called again. Sophie hadn't peed since early that morning, and with all the fluids she was getting, the vet was concerned. She took a plain xray and our world was tipped upside down!!

The xray showed a large mass in Sophie's abdomen. The vet knew it was cancer. The mass was so large that it was pushing on and pinching every other organ in Soph's belly. Her left kidney was three times the size it should have been and was completely crystalized. It wasn't working at all. The right kidney had been invaded by the tumor. It was full of fluid and surrounded by fluid. It was obvious to the two vets in the office that neither kidney was functioning. They called an oncologist in SLC and described the findings. They all concurred that even if they removed the cancerous mass the prognosis for recovery was grim since both kidneys were dysfunctional.

Jason was flying home from Phoenix right then. I waited for him to come home. My mom came over too. We sat the kids down and explained everything to them. It was so awful and heartbreaking to see their reactions. We all sat and cried for a long time. They were so devastated.

We all went up to the vet's office and got to sit in the room with Sophie for about an hour. We hugged and kissed her, pet her and told her we loved her. She was so sick that she just laid there looked at us without sitting up.

At about 630, they came in and gave her a sedative. Ten minutes later, they pushed the barbiturates that caused her heart to stop beating.

Cayden's knee buckled under him when the vet said that Sophie was gone. My kids wailed! It was so emotional. The vet and her assistant even started to cry.

We brought her home and buried her by a pine tree in our backyard that she liked to lay in the shade of. We are going to have a marker made.

My kids cried all night, especially Cayden. She was member of our family for six years. She had the cutest personality. She was easy going, and never tried to bite anyone. She kept time for us: 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. were feeding time. She'd sit and stare at us until we looked at her, then she'd try to talk. We always knew it meant she wanted to be fed. She comforted my kids when they were sad. She kept me company when everyone was off to work and school. She would play with the kids, chasing them and barking with her little tail wagging like crazy! We love her.

We will miss her forever.