[Magdalen] Advice - Malcolm

[Marilyn Cepeda]

It is so hard……my sympathy and prayers!

On Mon, Jan 24, 2022 at 7:45 AM Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com> wrote:

> Oh, dear Rick,
> I am so very sorry.  You, Alex, and Malcolm will know when the time has
> come.  John and I had to euthanize our precious Miss Kitty in June, 2021.
> She had developed a galloping case of diabetes that required insulin
> injections twice daily.  She did not improve at all.  I don't know how to
> tell you when the absolute right time might be - we leaned heavily on the
> vet's advice.  And, in the end, we decided on Kitty's behalf.  I miss her
> terribly.  For Kitty, more days would not have resulted in more good life.
>
> Rick, know that you, Malcolm, and Alex are in our prayers.
> Ginga
>
> On Mon, Jan 24, 2022 at 12:49 AM Rick Mashburn <ricklmashburn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Dear friends,
> >
> > It's been a hard day at our house. As some of you know, Malcolm was
> > diagnosed with calcium oxalate bladder stones for some years now. He's
> been
> > on meds to balance the Ph in his urine (believed to pre-dispose dogs to
> > these types of stones) with success for the last 3 or 4 years.
> >
> > In the last six months, the number of stones has increased and he's
> needed
> > hydropropulsion therapy multiple times. Last week, that stopped working.
> He
> > was at the vet on Thursday and Friday but they were not able to clear his
> > urethra. In spite of taht, on Friday night, he was able to urinate almost
> > normally and to a lesser extent on Saturday. Today, it has gotten much
> > worse. He is able to urinate but not very much and it's obvious he is not
> > able to empty his bladder.
> >
> > We are walking him more frequently so he can empty his bladder as much as
> > possible but we know this is not a sustainable situation. The worst case
> > scenario would be a ruptured bladder which would be painful and traumatic
> > for all of us. I can't stand the thought of that happening to him.
> >
> > We've been in touch with a vet who makes house calls. They provide
> > euthenasia in a gentle, supportive way that would let us say goodbye to
> him
> > without trauma. But, the thought of saying goodbye too soon is also hard
> to
> > imagine.
> >
> > I know many, many of you have had to make this agonizing decision. What
> > made the difference for you? What is the right criteria? We don't want to
> > make a decision too quickly but I'm afraid that is mostly just
> selfishness.
> > I don't want to say goodbye at all but the window for that is closing --
> > and could close even more quickly than we imagine.
> >
> > We know our hearts will be broken either way. We want to do the right
> thing
> > for Malcolm.
> >
> > Much love,
> >
> > Rick
> >
>
-- 
Marilyn (Owens, Palmero) Cepeda