R.I.P. Buddy
We have very sad news to report. Tonight we said good-bye to Buddy, our 8-yr-old, bouncy, big-nosed, tender-hearted Catahoula Leopard.
Kari took Buddy in to see the vet this morning after a couple of days of noticing that Buddy did not seem to be acting like his bouncy self. After analyzing his blood, the vet narrowed her diagnosis down to either cancer of the spleen or an autoimmune disease. The treatment options we had were limited to combinations of high-risk interventions and debilitating long-term medications. Several layers of moral calculus (which we had worked our way through once before) led us to the decision to euthanize Buddy.
Hard as it was to say good-bye to Buddy, the hardest part was having to explain it all to Christopher, who has been shaken by the idea that Buddy will not be coming back home. Seeing the boys' reaction (and Sam's) reinforces to us just how much he was loved. Perhaps more than anything else, Buddy was a lucky dog. And we were lucky to have him.