Baby the Mastiff

Hello all –

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted.  I miss Baby so much, and I was so mad that we got so little time after going through the amp., I needed a bit of a break from the whole cancer-talk thing.

I finally looked at the site again and realized I left you hanging!  I asked for name ideas for the new furbaby and didn’t tell you how it came out.  Her name is Popcorn (Poppy for short).  Her full name is Princess Popcorn of Buttery Goodness.  She has golden highlights that makes her look like someone poured butter on her.  She is a cutie!  It’s taken me a little while to totally warm up to her because I miss Baby so much, but she’s winning me over.

I wish all of you the very best and want you to know how important your support was to us through the process.  I don’t know the answer to the ‘would I do it again’ question.  I’m still not sure if it was for her or for us, but we did have some lovely times during the last few months.

May you all beat the odds!

Judy

We miss Baby like crazy, but MBGiant Toby needed a buddy, so we went back to Gentle Giants Rescue. Boy, were we surprised that the dog who chose us was a little mini goldendoodle! She fell in love with Roger and she’s coming home with us next week. She’s around 1 1/2 yrs old and a real sweetie. Help us name her! We need ideas!

Today we had to say good-bye to our sweet Baby.  It’s hard to believe that just last night she was rolling on her back and stealing squeaky toys from MBGiant Toby.  Around 4am I heard a strange sound… it was Baby crying.   She couldn’t get comfortable, she was breathing as if she had run a race and she cried every time she tried to lay her head down.  Once, I found her out back laying on her side crying.  This had never happened before.  Her pain was intense.  We always said we would never let her suffer, so we knew it was time to let her go.  The hardest part was waiting for our vet to open at 8.  It was a long 4 hours.  We gave her a double dose of pain meds and lots of love.  I had to go to work, so Roger took her in.  Our vet is so kind and loving in farewells.  That really helps.  Her pain gave us the gift of having an easy time making the decision and feeling good about releasing her.  I’m sure as days go on I will miss her terribly, but right now the release from pain is a happy thing.

I do wonder if someday I’ll be looking in the eyes of another furbaby and see her spirit shining through.  I’m very open to afterlife concepts so it’s interesting to imagine the possibilities.  I can see her happy, flopping her ears and running through a meadow.

I want to thank this wonderful community for all the support you’ve been.  I don’t know if I’ll decide to continue to stay in touch, but I really admire the dedication you have to helping all the new tripods get through a difficult time.

We’re very grateful for the almost 5 months extra we had with Baby.  For those of you starting this journey – Baby happened to keep within the low end of statistics, but there are many examples of many tripawds living much longer.  We grieve together when we need to, but there is a lot to celebrate.  I’ll have Baby put in a good word for you all!

Love and best of luck to all!

Judy

 

It is such a joy to see Baby finding her playful side. Here’s a couple of pics.

 

We’ve been reading all the wonderful posts about the benefit of water therapy, so when a friend of ours invited us to her house to swim with the dogs we were super excited.  We pictured supporting Baby in the water and doing some stretching and dog paddling with her.  We pictured Monkey Butt Giant Toby jumping in and loving it – he is largely (no pun intended) Newfie after all. Such a lovely, heartwarming picture.

Reality?   Roger and I relaxed in the pool while Baby hid and took her medicinal nap in a shady corner by the house and Toby sniffed around and watched us from afar.   Oh, well.

I don’t really care if they love to swim, but I did hope it would help strengthen Baby.  She seems to be getting weaker in her remaining rear leg and we can’t afford physical therapy, acupuncture, etc.

My question for all of you.  Should we just take her in the water regardless of her fear, or wait for her to warm up to the idea?  I would love to know what you all would do.

Hugs and Slobbers

Judy and Baby

Another first since amp… Baby’s tearing up toys to find the squeaker again!!  Yay!  She is an expert in the field of squeaker removal.  Notice MB Giant Toby sulking with his back toward her – he kinda liked that toy… he says ‘darn that tripawd, and she won’t even get in trouble! ‘  Sorry Toby, sad but true.

Baby is also an expert in looking innocent and loving a toy even after squeaker removal.

 

Last night we were all sitting in the family room (dogs room) and suddenly Baby jumped on the couch for a cuddle!  She used to do that all the time, but it’s a few weeks since she had tried.  So normal – so wonderful!

Later, when she was on the floor she rolled over and squirmed and grabbed a toy away from MB Toby!  They actually rough played for a couple of minutes.   She hadn’t done this since surgery.   So normal – so wonderful!

Between the mushrooms, the muscle relaxant shot and the new pain med., she back to being Baby!

We’re on the good side of the roller coaster right now and loving it

Wags and Slobbers to all!

Judy and Baby

Baby is having pain in her front leg.  We’ve been hoping she was just sore and rest would take care of it, but it’s not getting better.  She doesn’t even get up to greet us at the door.  She stretches on her tummy and wags her tail and lets us know she’s happy to see us, but doesn’t even try to get up.  She’ll still get up to eat and go out, but it’s not good.

We see the vet tomorrow – wish us luck.  It would be terrible if we put her and ourselves through all this for nothing.

Judy

Baby has had a couple of ‘down days’.  Instead of relaxing and letting her have her extra Med naps I start to worry.  My imagination is way to active.  I can picture all kinds of awful things.  I know it’s a waste of time and it’s putting negative thoughts to the universe, but I just get so stuck sometimes.  She’s been slower, not walking as far and she won’t let us know if she’s hurting.  It’s been 6 weeks since her surgery.  We’re not pushing her too hard , and we don’t expect her to suddenly be very active (she was never very active), but I don’t expect her to backslide.   Oy, this is hard.   Just had to vent to my tripawd community.

Judy

 

Baby doesn’t know what she thinks about her new stroller yet, but Grandhuman loves it!