Duncan, 29 July 1994 to 22 August 2005
Duncan Fraiser, AKC Judeen's Duncan Fraiser, born 29 July 1994 along the Mississippi River in Missouri.
For the past year Duncan has been fighting Degenerative Myelopathy. He has slowly lost all control of the back half of his body. He long ago lost control of his bodily functions, and today he can barely get himself up to walk around. His fight has been a long one, and I honestly believe he is now tired, sad, and embarrassed.
The whole quality-of-life debate has been a difficult one. If you look into his eyes you can still sometimes see the puppy that I met at the airport at eight weeks of age. He continues to enjoy certain things in life – chewing his tennis balls, being stroked and embraced… But he also appears sad much of the time. He has always been frightened by lightening and loud noises, and now he is scared of almost everything – even being outside causes him to throw his body against the back door. And so I am forced to assume that his mind is also now suffering, that he is scared when we are gone and he is alone. And that thought, well, that thought really saddens me.
And so tomorrow will be Duncan's last day with us. We will make the trip to the doctor and hold him while we do what we feel we must do – to do what we have been putting off for selfish reasons.
In the end I can only hope that we are doing the right thing, the humane thing. Unfortunately, as so many things in life, this will be one of those decisions I second guess until my own time is due.
Duncan, 29 July 1994 to 22 August 2005
Duncan Fraiser, AKC Judeen's Duncan Fraiser, born 29 July 1994 along the Mississippi River in Missouri.
For the past year Duncan has been fighting Degenerative Myelopathy. He has slowly lost all control of the back half of his body. He long ago lost control of his bodily functions, and today he can barely get himself up to walk around. His fight has been a long one, and I honestly believe he is now tired, sad, and embarrassed.
The whole quality-of-life debate has been a difficult one. If you look into his eyes you can still sometimes see the puppy that I met at the airport at eight weeks of age. He continues to enjoy certain things in life – chewing his tennis balls, being stroked and embraced… But he also appears sad much of the time. He has always been frightened by lightening and loud noises, and now he is scared of almost everything – even being outside causes him to throw his body against the back door. And so I am forced to assume that his mind is also now suffering, that he is scared when we are gone and he is alone. And that thought, well, that thought really saddens me.
And so tomorrow will be Duncan's last day with us. We will make the trip to the doctor and hold him while we do what we feel we must do – to do what we have been putting off for selfish reasons.
In the end I can only hope that we are doing the right thing, the humane thing. Unfortunately, as so many things in life, this will be one of those decisions I second guess until my own time is due.