Love, Wrapped in Fur

There's no easy way to say it: our Diesel crossed the rainbow bridge on August 11th.

He had a seizure last week and we immediately took him to the ER Vet. Not knowing what it was at the time, but knowing _something_ was grievously wrong, within 20 minutes, we were there; after a long 6 hrs, they weren't able to identify what could have caused it, and we were back home on watch in case another happened in the next 24 hours.

Looking back, it was no surprise that Diesel was a real kindness to the vet staff and doctor with his loving temperament that night, almost acting as a therapy dog with the snuggles and pets he was allowing (two life-and-death emergencies happened while we waited - one of them didn’t make it; the vet came in, sat down on the floor, and loved on Diesel for a while… it didn’t even register for me till after we left).  They checked him out and sent us home with instructions to watch and see, and followup with our normal vet, which we did.  

A week passed, and everything seemed fine, but Thursday morning he was laying in my office, and had a very hard time getting up.  

He became increasingly lethargic with pale gums and lots of drooling/diarrhea, so our regular vet sent us back to the ER vet where they discovered a large mass on his spleen that had ruptured and was bleeding internally; the odds would not have been in his favor to go thru surgery, blood transfusions, and a long, painful recovery at his age.  It's likely the seizure last week was related to the mass in his abdomen. 

We went back to Diesel's normal vet to put him to sleep, with Rich sitting on the floorboard of the back seat to love on him as I drove. I knew it was the right move to take him back to them rather than have this happen at a sterile and unknown ER; our vet's office was incredibly kind, having set up a soft bed in one of the rooms for him to lay on and staying late after their normal hours so we could have just a little more time with him. Several of the vet techs came in to say their own goodbyes; Diesel's been their patient, and a 'doggie daycare kid,' since he was a puppy.  

He was surrounded by love as he left this earth. 

We were blessed to have him his whole life - 10 and a half incredible years of road trips, room clearing farts, food boycotts, and the best bed-stealing snuggles.  From the very first camping trip with him, to the very last, Diesel was the best camping pup we could have wished for.  There will be a 95-lb doberman-shaped hole in our souls from having to let him go, but as I've said before: "we grieve deeply because we love deeply," and our sweet Diesel-dog was absolutely love wrapped in fur. 

Brockhouse's Diesel Tank
February 2nd, 2012 - August 11, 2022