In Loving Memory of Shadow

On Thursday, August 30th, 2007 we lost our beloved SHADOW, a 10-1/2 year old black Lab dog that we had since we rescued her from the dog pound 10 years ago. She was only 9 months old then and she was a faithful companion for us, going camping with us and the grandkids, following us ( just like our shadow) every where we went, and she loved to go for car rides. All she asked for was a lOT of loving. She would actually make us put our hands on her head to pet her any time we would sit still. She would nose her way under our arm or hand. I always said we should tie a fake hand on her collar to keep her happy.





Shadow stopped being able to eat about 4 weeks ago, and that was a Thursday. We tried to get her to eat soft food, and even hand fed her some nuggets, but everything she ate she threw up. The following week on Monday, we took her to the vet, and he did blood and x-rays, but could'nt tell me what was wrong other than her blood count was high, indicating an infection. He gave me anti-biotics and told me to call the other doctor that removed some large fatty tumors off of her chest, back in April to see if he could suggest any thing further for her. I tried to call and we kept missing each other for a couple days. When he finally did call back again, I told him that she still could not eat, but was drinking lots of water. He had me take her back in, and he felt a lump deep in her throat but the x-rays did not show for certain what it was. He gave me cans of liquid dog food and some medicine to settle her stomach hoping that she could get some strength from that, and heal whatever it was. Shadow hungrily ate the liquified food and seemed to regain some strength for about a week, but last Wednesday we noticed that her neck looked terribly swollen. She ate her food, and later that night she threw up a foamy thick white substance. The next morning I prepared another batch of liquid food for her and she took one drink and shied away. Then I decided to check her swollen neck. It was hard and painful for her, and she flinched when I pressed on it and started to choke on more of that foamy discharge again. I could tell she was in pain, and she was fighting to regain her breath again. I immediatly called the vets office, but her other doc was not in and they asked if I wanted to wait till Friday to see him. I decided that Shadow didnt have time to wait, and they had me bring her right in. The vet took another x-ray of her throat, and thats when she showed me that Shadow had a big tumor in her esophogus that was nearly choking off her windpipe, and that this was not operable. She said in involved too many major arteries, in her neck, and the only hope is to try to refer her to a cancer doctor to try Chemo, but more than likely that Shadow would die during the night or within 24 hours, because she would suffocate with such a small windpipe to breath through, and that would be a horrible way to die. She suggested that it was the best to put her down. I called my husband and we decided together that was the best to ease her suffering. It was one of the worse things that I have had to do. I kept petting her and telling her that she was a good girl as the nurse gave her some medicine to make her sleepy. They then put her on a cute baby blanket and told me to wait about 15 minutes for her to get sleepy. When the doctor came in, Shadow was laying her head on her paws, but still trying to look around at the people, moving her head right and left to follow us. The vet turned her on her side and Shadow had trouble breathing, and was gurgling as she breathed. The shot took just a minute, and by the time she finished, and put on her thesocope to check her hearbeat, she said, She gone.


Yesterday my Granddaughter, Amber came over with a paper she make for us in memory of Shadow. She recalled all the fun they had with Shadow since she and her brother were little kids, and this Tribute just broke our hearts! It was so beautiful I just have to show you it.....