Hamish Vet

I took Hamish to the vet this morning (18th September), he has been a bit lethargic and not keen on sitting down so we thought it might be his anal glands.

The vet checked him over, he has lost a significant amount of weight, this time last year he weighed 6.7 kg, now he weighs between 5.5 kg & 5.6 kg.

She said that there is most likely some underlying problem that is causing his calorie intake to feed what it is rather than his body weight, possibly a worsened liver or cancer, but she couldn't feel any swollen or distended bits in his abdomen, but without blood tests and scan she can fully say what it is, but I'm not willing to put him through any trauma at his age.

He does have an adenoid cyst above his rectum but its not stopping him from pooping, she said if he were younger they would remove it but not at his age. He only had a small amount of stuff in his anal glands so that was removed, he also got his nails clipped to make it easier for him to get around on the rugs.

She was impressed at how old he is and said that he would probably be the last of his litter still alive, especially after his liver results a year ago.

I asked if she thought he would make it to Christmas and she said it was most unlikely, especially with all his weight loss, there is obviously something untoward going on, but she said that we would know when the time came, he would loose interest in everything around him and get more disorientated and less comfortable as time goes on., but she did say that he had all the classic symptoms of coming to the end of his life.

She was very good at explaining how it happened when the time comes. They will wrap him in a cosy blanket, then give him a sedative so that he doesn't get distressed, once that kicks in, they give them his last injection, we are all allowed to be with him throughout the whole procedure.

I message the kids and told them the news before breaking down and just cuddling him.

The girls came home from work early to cuddle him.

He was certainly perky enough once we got back home.

I have to admit that we have noticed more of a decline in his demeanor etc this past month or so. We had a discussion and as Darren is going on holiday for 3 weeks on 12th October, we thought it might be best to put him to sleep before Darren goes, as he sleeps in his room and we thought he might get overly confused and pining for Darren. But he perked up a good bit and we decided that we would leave him until we thought he was well and truly ready to leave us, he is still eating and getting around no bother, so he still has some living to do, we just told Darren that if he takes a decline in his health while he is away, we just won't tell him and put him to sleep.