Zato continues to amaze me at every turn. He slept pretty well until about 4 a.m., and then he got a little restless and couldn’t seem to get comfortable. About the time I was going to get another pill for him, he went back to sleep, and then woke me up for our usual morning cuddles! His tail was wagging even harder than usual. We got up and as soon as I opened the fridge, he was right there, waiting on his food! He ate it all.
Where’s my breakfast?
Got his pills down and went outside to leave some “pee-mail” all over the yard. Again, no problems balancing. He came back in and took a nap. I have kept the other dogs away from him (except his sleeping companion Boodie the Hound, who won’t step on him). This morning I let some of the calmer ones have a sniff and say hello and then they went back downstairs for some DogTV!
We got a gift in the mail from Zato’s friend Clover who was one of our rescue dogs and now lives in NY. She sent a box of toys, treats, and all kinds of goodies, including some CHOCOLATE for me! Good girl, Clover :). Clover had a pretty rough start herself, but got adopted by one of the most amazing people I know and lives the life of a princess now. And she should – it’s pretty obvious she is a princess:
Clover!
Zato reads his letter from Clover.
So, so far so good! Thank you again for your support. I am going to catch up on everyone’s stories ASAP. The last few days have been hectic and the house looks like a cyclone hit it. It’s a good time to clean while Zato rests. We have a phone consultation with Dr. Loops scheduled for Monday.
The surgeon called bright and early this morning to say that Zato was doing great and I could pick him up today! They wanted to keep him a few more hours to let some more of the sedation wear off, which was fine with me since we’re 150 miles away anyway. So we got in the car and went to get that sweet boy (thanks, Mom, for your love and support during all of this!).
The LVT gave us his instructions and an antibiotic to take in addition to his Carprofen & Gabapentin. He needs cold compresses for fifteen minutes twice a day for 5 days. He has some fluid in there but it’s not draining, just a little puffy. She said he had been doing great and wagging his tail, and that she also has a tripawd, as the result of an accident. She also said that while he hadn’t eaten the food I left for him yesterday, he had pooped and had already mastered balancing himself!
Then she brought my boy in. He just hopped right in, wagging his tail! He has a bandage over the incision, so I haven’t seen it yet. We got in the car and he slept on the way home. I called Richard as soon as we started back. He is working out of town and was waiting to hear about our boy! I sent him a picture :). When we got home, I lifted him out and he had a good long pee. I AM impressed with his balance. He would have gone up the porch stairs if I’d let him! I picked him up, set him down in front of the door, and he went in, hopped up on the couch before I could get to him, and started licking his paw. Now he’s snoring on the couch beside me. I know he’s uncomfortable and still doped up to a degree, but I swear the look I’m seeing on his face is RELIEF.
He said he should bounce back really quickly. They did chest x-rays to be sure of his lungs and all is clear. I held it together until he said what a nice dog Zato is…then I lost it.
I think I’m going to take a nap now. Two days with no sleep is well, you know…..RUFF!
Here’s our boy from this morning, raring to go. He said, “Get this achy leg OUTTA HERE!”
Our pack grew quickly, with the addition of a Hound puppy and a tiny Amstaff puppy whose litter was left in a box at the dumpsters. We fostered those guys and in the end, we couldn’t let Cadpig go. Zato pretty much raised her, and she is the black and white girl you see in the pictures. Then I got the idea of starting a dog rescue, which we did. It operated for five years, and in that time a lot of pups came and went to good homes. And right in the middle of it all was Zato. He was so good with the fosters – the playful, the timid, the injured, and especially the puppies. He was good as gold to them all. We even had a dog who became aggressive and attacked Zato (I jumped in pretty fast so he wasn’t injured), but he never deviated from his sweet self. One of my favorite memories is when a local church donated food to the rescue’s community pet food pantry project and Zato and Richard went to speak to the congregation. Zato stood up on the back of the pew while people petted him and the minister spoke.
Zato & Richard with pet food pantry donations!
When we decided to close the rescue so we could do other things, life slowed down a little bit. Our pack had grown again with dogs who didn’t get adopted! And there was Zatoichi, the elder statesman, the gentle leader of the pack.
We moved to the mountains, which he loved (especially watching the deer!) and life was good. After almost two years of this peaceful period, he started to limp. We thought he had hurt his paw. He acted like it was his paw. Or arthritis. Or something OTHER than the horror that would be revealed four months later.
It was about the fourth vet visit, when he began carrying his paw. I had it figured out – yep, HAD to be arthritis. But when the vet again examined him and moved his shoulder, he let out a cry that I’d never heard before. It broke my heart. The vet’s face clouded over and said they needed to get an x-ray. Here I sit, oblivious, oh sure I said…and played with my phone while I waited. When they brought Zato back in, I said, “Well, little bud, I guess we need to cut your leg off!”. The vet didn’t laugh. He closed the door and when he turned to face me, I realized he had tears in his eyes.
I don’t remember much about the rest of the visit. There was something about amputation and chemo would give him four months, maybe, and if we did nothing the pain would force our hand within two weeks. I was crying and mumbled something about I wouldn’t do that. I think I called Richard from the car on the way home. I think I did. I got home and cried and screamed and may have actually thrown some things. I collapsed in a heap and realized there was nothing I could do.
I could see he was in pain. I could see it in his eyes. I read enough to know how bad it would get. I looked around on this site briefly but never posted. I couldn’t do that “to him”. I was going to call the vet and ask him to come the next day but then, out of the blue, something happened. I got mad. Really mad. And then, on the tail end of that, I got determined. I decided that this was not going to be his end. So I researched options. That’s how we ended up in Richmond at the Advanced Radiation Treatment Center, where relief came fast and the people have hearts of gold. Now we are at the end of what radiation can do. But he’s not done. Which means we’re not, either.
So that’s Zato’s life, summed up in three posts. There aren’t enough hours, space and words to convey the many moments, the happiness, the uniqueness, and the qualities that make our dogs special. That make him special. And now we wait. For tomorrow.
I am afraid. I am hopeful. I am still in denial to a degree. I feel like this is the right thing to do. I look forward to telling you, very soon, how well he is doing. I pray that is the case. In the meantime, I would appreciate all good thoughts sent his way. I put this slide show together with pictures from various points in his life. I wanted to pay tribute to him, for all he’s given to me, as we face whatever lies ahead.
I kept volunteering at the shelter, and kept walking Zato. But he was not impressed with being returned. He was now in the little crate in what they called the grooming room, and usually the door was shut. Zato isn’t a big barker, although he can join in on a good howl with the rest of them. I was walking towards the kennels one afternoon and passed the grooming room. The door was barely open, maybe 3 inches, and the field of view was the front of his crate. All I could see was one of Zato’s eyes, and it was right on me! Then I heard him bark for the first time. It was constant and frantic. It sounded like he was saying GET! ME! OUT! OF! HERE! And of course, that upset me. I felt so much guilt for bringing him back. I also knew that as a bully boy, his days were numbered, and after reporting a bite (it was impossible to hide the bite on Richard’s arm), he now had two strikes against him. The shelter manager really liked him, and I would later learn that he had been on the kill list more than once, but he was spared because she said she just couldn’t be in the room.
Meantime, we were analyzing what went wrong, and became determined to try again. We didn’t know if they would let us have him again, but I put a bug in the shelter manager’s ear to let me know before they “did anything”. Weeks passed and one Friday out of the blue I got a phone call. The shelter manager simply said, “If you want him, you need to come right now.” So I did, and brought him home for the second time.
The second time went much, much better. We got it right and so did he! Zato had been for a long drive on the way home, and then a long walk around the neighborhood and yard before we brought him in. He took everything in and got to smell (and scent!) everything in the yard. Thatcher was inside. Then he had some treats and we went in. Thatcher was in another room with the door closed. After he was completely relaxed, we asked him to go in the crate, which he did just fine with treats. Then we let him sit a while and rest, and eventually we let Thatcher in the room. Then we ignored them both, turned on the tv and did whatever we would normally do. They had a sniff and she walked away and he took a nap. We worked with the crate for a few days. Sometimes he was in there and sometimes she was in there for short periods of time. In the end, the crate was folded up and they were just fine. They ate separately and slept separately for a while, until they got used to each other and he got used to us. After that, it was smooth sailing :). Thatcher Bugaboo passed away in 2009 at the age of 15, and she will always be my girl.
