This blog post sucks to write.
The dog I spent the last twelve years growing up with has taken a turn for the worse.
My mother had two Alaskan Malamutes - Krystal and Zeus. Krystal was about a year older than Zeus, and they grew up together their entire lives. They didn't always get along - I remember one fight where they weren't distracted by anything, even by bacon being dangled in their face. But they still grew up together as buds. When Krystal passed on two years ago, Zeus had a certain sadness about him that he never seemed to fully recover from.
In the last six months, Zeus' health has steadily declined. He has hip problems as expected from most dogs this size, he's gone blind in one eye and has completely lost bladder control.
Today his pain seemed much more intense and constant than normal. The poor guy struggles to stand up on his own, usually getting maybe 1/3 of the way up before collapsing in defeat. When he does manage to get up, he appears to have doggie Alzheimer's - he doesn't seem to recognize people or places, and he just wanders around confused and disoriented.
I went over tonight to visit the family and say my final farewells. We fed Zeus a final meal of chicken noodle soup, and treated him with a few scraps of chicken from dinner.
I can't wait to play with you again 70 years from now.
A few more photos
here.
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