Photo of Sophie

Went down to visit Sam, Becky and the boys in Leavenworth this past Memorial Day weekend and of course brought the camera down to take some pictures. Found this photo of Sophie on the camera and was surprised I hadn't downloaded it. I remember taking it shortly before she died. I like thinking of her content on the kitchen floor as Dale and I made dinner.

Sophie's Illness - Part 3

From Dale's email:

"The prognosis was not good - no matter what treatment we would have chosen, it would have been difficult on her and probably would not have extended her life more than a few weeks to a few months. We love that dog more than I can say, but we also know she has trusted us to make good choices for her wellbeing throughout her life, and we had to make the right choice here. Extending her life would have been for us, not for her."

Sophie's Illness - Part 2

More from Dale's email:

"Sometime in April, she began having some trouble with one of her legs and thought we'd better take her to the vet to see if there was anything we could do. We were again surprised to see she had gained another 2 pounds. The vet put her on a short course of Tamadol to help with the pain in her leg (which did go away for awhile) and she seemed more her old self again. A couple of weeks ago, I took a short trip to Madeline Island and when I returned, I just noticed how heavy she was. We scheduled an appointment for the next day and she had ballooned to 68 pounds. At this point, the vet did some tests (urinalysis, blood) to try to understand what was happening, but speculated that it was some sort of liver disease. Somehow, her system wasn't able to push the water through the liver so it "leaked" out into her gut. The resulting water retention was the culprit for the wight gain. He did an abdominal tap and took off 1/2 gallon of fluid. She was much more comfortable, but clearly not well. We scheduled her this past Monday for an ultrasound and possible liver biopsy to get a clearer picture of what was going on. The ultrasound showed quite clearly that she has cirrhosis of the liver, probably caused by the 8 years of phenobarbitol she has been on to control her seizures. The liver was small and dense and three doctors confirmed that it likely was cirrhosis."

Above art is Black Lab and Moon by Angie Store

Sophie's Illness - Part 1

The following is from an email that Dale sent to his mom and cousin to inform them of what was happening with Sophie just before she died.

"...we began to notice about 6 weeks ago that Sophie was having more and more trouble with her back legs. She had had surgery 3-4 years ago on her right knee after she blew out her ACL. By the time she was mostly recovered from that, the ACL in her left knee began to tear. We decided against surgery again because the first surgery and subsequent physical therapy were so difficult on her (and us). We opted to manage the knee with Rimadyl/carprofen. It worked like a charm and she had several good years without much trouble in her legs. She even made it through this past winter in good shape, which is amazing considering the amount of snow and ice we had. She was constantly climbing snowdrifts and sliding on the ice. What probably made this work out so well is that we were able to keep her very lean (55 lbs.) When I took her in for her phusical in March, she had somehow managed to gain 5 pounds. We were really surprised because we're so careful, but figured it was her metabolism slowing (she is 11 1/2 years old), and we began to feed her a little less food."

Goodbye, Sweet Friend

Sophie

November 1999 - May 19, 2011

Better People

Today Dale said that Sophie made us better people. I completely agree.    Photo June 2010

Taking in the Sun

Sophie
2009

A Room with a View

Black Labs in Art - 6

Painting by artist Amy Reges

Sophie is having a bit of trouble with her legs this evening. She seems to have already gained a bit of water weight back again. Tomorrow Dale will take her in for an ultrasound and Dr. Schuld will determine if he thinks the lump he found last time needs a biopsy.

Water Weight

Sophie made a visit to the vet today. She was due for a shot and while there Dale had Dr. Schuld check out her distended belly. It turns out she was carrying about six pounds of water weight. They drained what they could get to which turned out to be about four pounds. With that gone Dr. Schuld was able to feel what's going on in her belly a bit more easily. He's concerned about her liver which is probably what was behind the water weight. They're going to do an ultrasound and a possibly a biopsy depending on what they find. In the above photo she's enjoying the gorgeous weather this evening.

Feeling Better

Sophie seems to be feeling a little better. She ate all her food tonight and had a nice, albeit short, walk. The past couple of days have given us some very pleasant weather so she was able to be out in the yard with me this afternoon while I did some yardwork.

Aches and Pains

Sophie's back to having some trouble with her legs. It has not been easy for her to climb up on the bed or her chairs. Also, her belly is back to being somewhat distended. I gave her an antacid pill with dinner last night.