Our sweet and perfect Macy passed away on July 14, 2024, around 3:40pm. It was much sooner than we ever expected. The last 2 months have held a lot of ups and downs, much like a roller coaster. I wanted to tell the story while it's still fresh in my mind.
May 17th, she woke up in the morning sick. She threw up a lot of undigested food, then several more times that morning she threw up more watery stuff. We thought perhaps she had gotten into some ant bait. Late that morning she was very restless and kept going in and out of the house, like she was going to throw up again, but didn't throw up anymore. She drank tons of water during this time too. The wonderful dog that she was, she always tried to go outside to throw up. She finally settled down that afternoon and slept for most of the rest of the day. In the later afternoon, she ate a very small piece of boiled chicken breast. Later in the evening she ate a little bit more chicken. In the late evening, she ate some more chicken and boiled potato as well. She ate all that willingly. Went outside and did a poop and pee and then went to bed and slept all night. She was very lethargic all day.
The next morning, May 18th, she got up in the morning, and went outside and ate some grass (something she always did when she was feeling sick and needing to throw up.) She then proceeded to throw up, but nothing came out except for saliva. She seemed a little more chipper all day than the previous day. She got out of bed more and was more aware of the happenings around her. Ate some more boiled chicken and potatoes. At which time we left to go to Carters soccer game. When we returned, she had thrown all her breakfast up. Later, she ate some more and kept that all down.
May 19th, woke up in the morning, went outside and pooped and peed. Then went and tried to throw up, but it was just saliva again. She had 1 small chunk of chicken at some point after that last incident. In the late a.m. of the 19th, she seemed less perky than she was the day before, but still up and around more than she was on the first day. She ate a little more chicken and potatoes. Went outside and did her business as usual. Late that afternoon, I gave her some more chicken and potatoes, but she only ate the chicken. At dinner time, she ate some more chicken. And then at bedtime she ate a bit more. Perked up a bit before bed.
On May 20th she woke up but seemed tired. Drank a lot of water, ate a small amount of chicken, then went and laid partially in the sunshine. She wanted to go for a walk to the bus stop that day though, and she did great for that and seemed normal. Got home and ate a larger amount of chicken. Went back outside and wandered around in the yard and stood around. She was still seeming lethargic and seemed off. She had very little pep in her step. Ate small amounts of chicken on occasion, but turned her nose up at everything, even the chicken sometimes.
It was at that point that I decided to call the doctor. She didn't seem to be improving much. They worked us in first thing the next morning. She had lost a couple pounds, and only weighed 11.5 lbs. The doctor wasn't sure what was going on, she didn't have a fever, which would have indicated an infection, which would have been easy to treat. So, he suggested bloodwork and an x-ray. The x-ray showed lots of calcium deposits spread around in her abdomen, and the doctor mentioned it could be cancer, leukemia, lymphoma. The bloodwork would tell us a better story. He sent us with some anti-nausea meds, and we would await his phone call about the bloodwork.
I left the appointment in shock, barely made it out the door with dry eyes. I thought for sure we would have several more good years with her! She was an otherwise very healthy dog! I had to wait for an older lady to park her giant truck so I could get to my car door. Once she got out of her truck, she asked if she could pet my mini schnauzer, as she had just lost hers 3 months ago. She said she missed hers so much, and said they are the best dogs. At which point I broke down crying and blurted out that she might have cancer. The lady looked at me shocked and said that's what her mini died from, and she gave me a hug and reassured me that we have given her a good life. I cried all the way home, and continued to cry after I got home.
From that point on, Derek had to make/take all the phone calls from the vet because I just didn't trust myself to not start crying.
The call came in the next day or two for her bloodwork, and it was not good. Her white blood cell count was concerning on all levels. Her kidneys weren't looking good either. We decided to do an ultrasound to find out more and do some more bloodwork after a couple weeks. She also got an appetite stimulant and anti-nausea meds to help her gain some weight. At that point we cancelled our planned summer trip to Montana where Macy would have been boarded during it. We didn't want something to happen to her while we were gone.
The ultrasound showed she had a growth on her spleen. Which could have been something totally benign, or cancerous. They said we wouldn't know unless we went in and did a splenectomy and removed the spleen. So, we scheduled that to happen on July 10th.
She seemed to improve for the most part after that, gained a little weight back, was eating again and back to her usual chipper self. Then she went downhill again and was throwing up and not eating again. The doctor put her on an additional anti-nausea med, plus a steroid to try to shrink the spleen tumor some before her splenectomy. And at that point, we went on a family trip to Manzanita for about a week where we took the dog with us. The cocktail of meds she was on worked really well, and she improved a lot! Eating a lot, pooping solids instead of diarrhea, seemed totally normal again and I felt so hopeful that things were going to be ok. Looking back now, I am so so thankful we had that wonderful week with her. She had a blast, and we made some wonderful memories with her. Basically, the trip was Macy's trip. She didn't throw up one time while we were gone.
The day after we got home, she threw up again. And again, the next day. Also, her appetite started wanning again. At that point we had begun weening her off of the steroid so she could have a better chance at healing from her surgery, so we thought that was the issue. After her splenectomy, the plan was to get checked out and see if she healed ok after 3 weeks then start the steroids again.
The splenectomy didn't go well. It didn't happen at all actually. Once they got her cut open, they found lots of tumors spread all over in her abdomen, and the spleen tumor, which had previously been around 6cmx3cm, had actually grown to around 8cmx4cm or so. So, we made the difficult decision to leave the spleen and just put her basically on hospice care to keep her happy and comfortable for her remaining days. We thought we would still have maybe a couple months left with her. We couldn't have anticipated how quickly things would go south from there. The first couple days after her surgery, she was doing really well, didn't seem in pain, ate good and was up and around. But then on the 13th, she started acting tired and not eating as well again. She threw up once but seemed to feel a little better after that. The following morning, she slept later than usual and didn't get out of bed chipper and eager. She didn't want to eat anything. I managed to get her to eat two small pieces of bacon treats, but that was all. All day, she kept getting up and acting like she was nauseated and needed to throw up. Finally, she did throw up. She also kept trying to poop all day, and she would get little bits out. Eventually it looked like bloody diarrhea. She kept hiding under the trampoline. Every time I went to check on her, she would move to the other side of the trampoline, like she was trying to get away from me. Her breathing seemed erratic. She kept laying down in the grass looking like she was giving up. It was a Sunday. I suggested we call the on-call doctor. She said we basically had 2 options. Option one, wait until tomorrow and get her some more meds to help her feel better. Or option two, let her rest.
We made the super difficult decision to say goodbye. It seemed like she was trying to die as it was, we just didn't know if she would make it through the night. So less than 2 hours later, she was resting peacefully. It happened very quickly. It was time. The doctor said the word "euthanasia" literally means "good death" so it's really the best way to die. I'm just glad she's not in pain anymore.
She had a wonderful life, and she was so loved. The last 2 months, she got spoiled and cuddled and loved on a ton! She got to eat whatever human food she was interested in. I even let her lay on our bed a few times! I bought her special snacks to help her eat. She ate probably her body weight in treats over those 2 months!
She was the best dog. She will forever be in our hearts. We love her so much, and our hearts are broken. The house just doesn't seem the same without her in it. I never imagined when we first got her how we would all come to love her so dearly, and how she would become so much a part of our family.
Some things we will always remember about her:
- Her little nub of a tail wagging so fast whenever she saw us.
- How excited she would get when we came home from anywhere.
- How she would recognize us when we picked her up from anywhere (doctor, boarding, hairdresser)
- How she knew our schedule and would get a little lost when we deviated from it.
- How she was able to "dance" for treats.
- How she started getting "lay down" and "roll over" confused.
- Just how good of a dog she was!
- How she behaved so well wherever she went.
- How she LOVED car rides with us.
- How she would bury her "toothbrushes" in the dirt and then later dig them back up and eat them covered in dirt.
- How she always tried to bury her dog food in the dish.
- How she alwasy wanted to be outside when we were.
- How she alwasy hda to be where her humans were.
- How she would sit beside me on my chair, crammed between my hip/leg and the arm of the chair.
- How we would play "find it" with her treats or her toothbrushes.
- Her love of popcorn.
- How she was a schnauzer that rarely barked.
- How much she loved her grandmas.
- How she hated baths, and therefore hated the laundry room (where we gave her baths.)
- How excited she got when she got to go places with us- hiking, the park, etc.
- How she seemed to think she was a human and not a dog.
- How she would lay in her bed, but lay with the top half of her body hanging out of her bed.
- Her awful breath, and how she would yawn in Avery's face.
- When she swallowed a needle and thread as a puppy, then pooped it out but the needle end got stuck in her rear end and Derek had to pull it out.
- How she loved going on walks but HATED putting on her harness!
- How she was so dark when we got her, but by the time she died she was a very light silver/gray.
Macy, we love you with all our hearts. Thank you for being the best dog for our family.
