Posted: 1/10/2015 5:36:10 PM EDT
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My mother-in-law passed last night; but this thread is about my 5 year old shelter rescue. A little background first: My wife had been the primary caretaker for my MIL for the last 2.5 years, she is the only child, and her mother has been an insulin-dependent diabetic since the age of 11. She had a kidney transplant in '96, and during her time at my house, my MIL had ups-and-downs health wise. That is, until we had to move from Augusta to southeastern Georgia. My shelter rescue, Gunner, who I picked up at a Petsmart in NC, is probably shepherd and hound (we think beagle) mixed with whatever else. He loved my MIL and the rest of his pack. When her blood sugar dropped, he would go into her room or sit outside the door until my wife checked on her. It got to the point my wife watched the dog for cues. Little did we know when we moved 3 weeks ago, that she was suffering from vascular degeneration brought upon by a lifetime of health issues. She had suffered small TIA strokes previously, always during or after dialysis, but she seemed to recover. The dog knew. About a 1 1/2 to 2 weeks ago, he would spend his waking moments with her when she was up; to the point my wife had to shoo him away. We saw the decline too, and my wife sought help, even taking her to an ER when she showed signs of dementia. Last Monday, while receiving hemo dialysis at the local center, she became unresponsive. She was rushed to the local regional medical center, where they determined to move her to a hospital about an hour south. The team there did some labs, and broke the news that the blood vessels in her brain had degenerated to the point that she would no longer able to function, and would likely spend the rest of her life in-between states of schizophrenia, confusion and fear, never fully knowing where she was. With that, and the knowledge that her mom would never want to spend her life in that state, and that further dialysis would likely result in another stroke and a painful death, my wife made the hardest decision in her life. With approval from the medical team, dialysis was stopped on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday morning were spent in observation; with no improvement, she was moved to a hospice on Thursday evening. Friday my wife and kids went to the hospice to spend the day with her. I had to go to work, but I came home at lunch to find Gunner curled up in her room, which he had never done before (which got me right in the feels  ). After work I came home, and here I found him:  (Again, right in the feels. )Now today is my son's birthday, and because we did not know when my MIL would pass, we decided to celebrate a day early. My family spend yesterday in her room, playing games, listening to my MIL's favorite music and sharing jokes with her, who by this time had fallen into her last sleep. About 530pm, they all told her they loved her, hugged her, and my wife let her know it was ok to let go. They came home to do a small, quiet celebration for my son's birthday. An hour and a half later, we got the call from the hospice. The dog knew the entire time. |
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That is awesome. I've seen it before but forgotten about it. Thank you! OP, thank you for your story too. It was very touching. Dogs are wonderful animals. |
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Thanks. I'll have to watch it after all this. |
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Lord Carnovan of the Highclere Castle and the Founder funder of the Tutamkamen Find died - his dog howled then died about 4 hours later. Pretty sure one was in Africa at the time, the K9 was at the castle, in the UK.
We have a Spinone who is an incredible empath, and certified therapy dog, can walk into a room and pick out then sit down in front of the sickest person in the room. WEIRD - we are happy she does make a mistake every now and then. Thank you for your story OP, our condolences. |
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Quoted:
Dogs and cats have a perception we humans don't enjoy. May your MIL RIP. When I was really sick and couldn't leave the bed my one cat didn't leave my side the whole time,the wife had to pick her up to take her to her food otherwise she wouldn't eat. She normally would be waiting by her bowl for food Animals know |
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The night my father died, at the exact moment that he died, my Grandmother's dog (the sister of our dog) howled and woke both grandparents. When my mother called them a few minutes later with the news, my grandmother answered with "(my father's name) is dead, isn't he?" |
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Sorry for your loss.
My sister has been a type 1 diabetic since she was 12, and one of her labs (he's almost 10yr old now, got him as a puppy) will let her know when her blood sugar is low by being super annoying and barking at her until she checks it. He'll even wake her up in the middle of the night. He is right every single time. |
| I am sorry for your families loss OP. When my Dad was dying, the 2 neighborhood dogs would not leave the house. They laid in front of the door for 2 days. Dads cat had never been inside until 3 days before he went into a coma. I was going out the door and she bolted into the house and jumped up on the bed and laid with him. The morning he died, she crawled under the porch and died a few hours later. |
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Several years ago your Ol Scruff had two operations by two doctors in one visit to the OR. rough times.
Ol Fearless, the Adventure Dog, never got on the bed while I was recovering over the next couple of months, which would have been a threat to me. But every time I woke up, that pair of brown eyes would be watching from the side, the chin propped on the sheet, quietly watching. When I could get up, she would smell the incision and then my breath to see how I was. She knew I was down, and she had to watch over and guard me. The Mrs and I know there is somebody in there, somebody noble. Yes, they get it. |
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Quoted: I am sorry for your families loss OP. When my Dad was dying, the 2 neighborhood dogs would not leave the house. They laid in front of the door for 2 days. Dads cat had never been inside until 3 days before he went into a coma. I was going out the door and she bolted into the house and jumped up on the bed and laid with him. The morning he died, she crawled under the porch and died a few hours later. ETA: YMMV. |
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When my previous golden died, the neighbor dogs acted really strange.
One of them entered our home...just pushed in and took a look around. He never did this before. Two of them slept in my yard overnight. They never did this before either. Then, a couple of days later, I was having a hard time so I walked over to my dogs grave. The grave was out of sight of any homes. After I had been there for a few minutes I heard the jingle jangle of dog collars. The two neighbor dogs had somehow figured out I was there and came over to grieve with me. Dogs are cool. |
| FUUUDDGE! Why did I open this!? :( As a dog person, I can assure you, dogs know and care about us more than most people do. I saw a segment on the news just last night where a german sheppard got between a gunman and the dogs family in a road rage incident and even though mortally wounded, store video showed the dog chasing the gunman away down the sidewalk. They found the dog around the corner where he died. His last effort on Earth was protecting his family from harm. I forget who it was that said it, but Ive often repeated it, "if dogs dont go to Heaven then I want to go where dogs go!" |
Thanks guys. We did not know how bad her health had degenerated even a month ago. Seems she was going on sheer stubborn will, which is apparently hereditary, judging from my wife  and her dad. BTW this thread is about her dad. |
