29/06/2023
First of all I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all the lovely comments on my previous (pinned) post.
Massive thanks too, to all those that have followed this page and have enjoyed joining Ollie Collie in his adventures.
The house has been far too empty and quiet today.
No skinny little black thing running up and downstairs and barking excitedly first thing in the morning as we got up. Right up until now, when he would be lay at the side of me on the sofa, with his head resting on my knee, pawing me if I dared to stop stroking him.
The spaces on the kitchen floor where his dishes should be.... His empty bed upstairs....
Last week when we went away to the caravan, he had an amazing time. He was happy and thoroughly enjoyed himself.... Energetic and as enthusiastic as ever. He did have a couple of days where he seemed extra tired after exersize and was panting more than usual. But the weather was warm and he had been walked more than he would be at home, which was the way our regular trips to the caravan always went, but we were aware he wasn't getting any younger and just put it down to that.
We rested him for 2 days, kept him as cool as was possible and gave him pain killers.
He had a bit of rheumatism (that very rarely troubled him) and we thought a combination of that and the heat was troubling him. He was eating fine, very alert and enthusiastic and incredibly puzzled as to why he wasn't allowed to run around!
He appeared to recover 100% after his short rest. Right up to the weekend when we were home. He was out chasing his stick around and doing what Ollie did best!
On Monday, he stopped eating and was very lethargic. We did the usual thing of buying a variety of foods to tempt him to eat and gave him a pain killer.
Tuesday there was no improvement, so we took him to the vet, who examined him and said he had possibly pulled or torn a muscle and was in pain.
He gave him strong pain killers and told us that if there was no improvement to take him back the next day.
Wednesday he had deteriorated rapidly.
Back to the vets we went. They kept him in to give him a scan and some blood tests.
The vet phoned us later in the afternoon. The scan had revealed a large mass in his abdomen. His bowels, pancreas and lymph nodes were extremely inflamed and he had fluid (blood?) in his stomach.
His cancer had returned tenfold and had caused internal bleeding.
The vet said if he was his dog he would euthenise him right there and then.
There was nothing they could do to make him better. He said he could open him up to see how it looked inside and to get more answers, but that would be pointless and unfair to put Ollie through anymore, just to find definitive answers as to what else was going on.
This completely threw us and shocked us to our core! It was the last thing we expected.
The worst I had expected was that he had a stomach ulcer.
The vet said it would have all been grumbling away in the background for some time, until something inside had ruptured.....and yet apart from the couple of days last week, he had shown no symptoms or indications at all that he was suffering or in any pain. (typical tough Border Collie!)
Within 2 hours he was laid to rest in our garden, buried with his stick.
The vet was amazing along with the other staff who were also brilliant, (especially a lovely lady called Ruth, who also knew Ollie outside of the practice)
They were so lovely with him and us.
They allowed us to spend some time with him in their gardens before we said our final goodbyes.
We always dreaded the time when he grew old and was no longer able to run and enjoy his life to the fullest.
We take comfort in the fact that right up until a few days before his passing he was still running round like a loony chasing his stick, full of enthusiasm and life.
Until now we hadn't really realised how much of our life was built around him.
He was a massive part of our lives and things will never be the same again.
He will ALWAYS remain in our hearts and
in time, I'm sure, we will be able to just look back and cherish all the wonderful memories.
He taught us so much and filled our lives with joy.
Julia ###
(this photo was taken last week after his rest days. You can see how healthy and happy he looked)
