We took Charlie for a walk yesterday with Scout and two dachshund friends. She didn't get far and was clearly suffering with her walking.
She seemed OK for the rest of the day, although she took some rousing from her sleep for her last wee before bedtime. I then carried her upstairs as I have been doing for quite some time now. During the night she came through into our room and seemed to be finding it hard to settle, looking for water and bashing into things a little. This morning she looked very unsteady on the stairs and I had to carry her back down for the first time in a week. She went outside, and then came back in, and tried to lie down on the rug, but ended up with her bottom on the raised dog bed. I moved this from under her and she lay on the rug, but didn't want any food/treats. This was so not her...
After a short while she managed to get up and walk ten feet for water, then came through to the kitchen, where she did take a couple of treats. However, the kitchen floor is slippery, so I carried her back to the rug and she then lay there for over an hour. Gill sat by her and she put her head in Gill's lap. Gill then went upstairs to get ready, and I sat on the floor next to Charlie. She was snoozing, seemingly very peacefully, but didn't seem her usual self.
She was clearly struggling with her walking and balance, and we thought the signs were that she'd probably had some sort of internal bleeding. She managed to get outside for a wee twice, but then just came back in, settled herself very slowly and slept
We made the decision to take her to the vets and booked an appointment for 13:45, with heavy hearts knowing what was probably going to happen, but obviously with a glimmer of hope that they might say they could give her something and we could postpone the inevitable.
As we set off, Gill put on Charlie's harness, and rather than moving towards the front door as she always did, even yesterday, she simply flopped down. I tried to coax her to her feet but she wasn't able to stand, so I had to lift her and carry her to the car. Even when I popped her onto the seat, she couldn't get her legs right, so I had to move them for her.
When we got to the vets, I lifted her out and tried to see if she might walk, but she hadn't got it in her, so I carried her in. I laid her onto one of her favourite throws which we had brought with us, on the floor, and Gill and I kneeled beside her. She had one last go at being giddy Charlie when the vet came into the room - she always loved people - getting briefly to her feet before settling back on the throw.
The whole procedure was incredibly peaceful. We said our goodbyes, which wasn't easy, and then the vet did what she had to. Charlie didn't move or complain through all of this and literally looked like she was asleep. Throughout all of this, little Scout lay between us, with her head on her paws, just looking soulfully at Charlie.
It was all over very quickly. All we can do now is grieve
Two photos of our girl. The first is when she had just arrived to live with us, and was just 2 months and 17 days old. The second was taken just yesterday, aged 14 years, 11 months, 27 days
