Sadly, we took Herbie to be put to sleep this morning. He had started wheezing a bit last week and when we took him to be checked, the tumour had almost completely overrun his lung. His drug regime was changed in the hope that it might stabilise him, but we could see over the weekend that he was still deteriorating. That said, he still seemed quite a contented chap and the photo above was Herbie on Saturday exercising his role of chair captain.
Even this morning, he looked a fitter dog than when he first joined us, though he had had a largely sleepless night and was showing difficulty settling in any comfort. He also refused any food, including one of his favourites, meatballs. When he took himself away and lay in the middle of the pantry floor, something we’ve never seen him do before, it seemed quite a strong sign. Up till today he’d shown little sign of discomfort and happily took himself outside to enjoy the sun yesterday afternoon, so we didn’t want him to suffer a period of suffering and deteriorating back into the old dog that he had been. Thankfully the vet agreed that it now seemed the best thing for him.
Appropriately, and thanks to the brains of the household, Herbie is now resting in the herb garden, just beside Basil’s peach tree. For such a small dog that only lived with us for ten months, the house already feels surprisingly empty for his absence.