29/05/2024
Sadly Barkley has passed away. He was born Valentines Day 2012 and passed away 5/19/24. Annette and I were blessed with the most amazing dog ever. He had a wonderful personality, was cute, incredibly smart, and brought joy to thousands of people. He was athletic and could climb ladders, jump through hoops, run like the wind, and was such a powerful swimmer, you could practically waterski behind him! Annette and our friend Ann Austin of Animal Actors trained him to put on shows at assisted living and memory care homes. The love of his life was a Jack Russell Terrier named Lola until she passed away 3 years ago. He loved chasing birds on the beach and squirrels in the mountains (he could never figure out how the squirrels could climb trees and he couldn't!)
The last year has been tough for Barkley- he had two spinal surgeries in December to correct a bulging disc, but never returned to normalcy despite two veterinarians working on him and weeks of physical therapy, but he never gave up and despite all the work he was always happy. He couldn't hike anymore, but he loved being with us and would join us in his special backpack. The only thing he loved more than us (and Lola) was eating voraciously! He could eat like a Great Dane and still stay skinny. He seemed happy and ate like crazy right until Saturday morning (5/18/240, when he refused to eat or drink, and was making a snoring sound even though he was wide awake.
The breathing problems were obviously of concern, but we thought it might be alergies, but we knew something was seriously wrong when he wouldn't eat, so we took him to the emergency vet recommended by Barkley's vet.
It was Saturday and his regular vet recommended two emergency 24-hour vets, so we drove to one of them, and they immediately admitted him, took x-rays and started to examine him. The x-rays appeared to show something wrong with his lungs, but then with more examination they discovered what appeared to be a large mass below his jaw. This is what was restricting his breathing. They extracted a lot of fluid and he immediately seemed better. They determined the fluid was from an abscess. They gave him antibiotics, hoping to solve the problem, but a few hours later they had to extract a lot more fluid. By now they determined the mass was not cancerous, but just a lot of fluid from the abscess.
We were excited that he got better and it looked like they had figured it all out, and we looked forward to seeing him again the next morning, but when we arrived the next morning we got a bad report. They hadn't reversed the infection and he was desperate for oxygen, so he spent most of the time in an oxygen chamber. He immediately recognized us, but was low energy and the doc thought it best if we left and came back latter so he would rest. When we returned they were feeding him from a tube inserted in his nose. Despite all of this the Vet was cautiously optimistic, so we left the hospital with much hope.
That hope was shattered a few hours later when he coded. We rushed to the hospital, but they were unable to revive him. We were able to say our goodbyes to him. We were in a room with Barkley wrapped in a blanket. It was hard to believe he was gone. Our minds played tricks on us, causing us to believe that he moved or his eyes moved. Our little boy couldn't possibley be gone.
Our prayers were for him to be healed and us have several more years together, but we added "Thy will, not mine be done". During one of the trips to the emergency room the vet showed us an x-ray of Barkley's spine and said none of the dogs he had seen with a spine looking like Barkley's were even able to walk, but Barkley refused to show us or his vets pain. The surgeon who worked on his spine had said he was "One tough cookie", because with all the scarring on his spine, he was likely in serious pain for two years.
As for the abscess, we believe that it likely came from a damaged tooth. After the second spinal surgery he did a couple of serious faceplants, and one of them must have damaged a tooth which caused the abscess. Spinal surgery often messes with the dog's sense of where their hind legs and tail are, that's what caused the faceplants or him to fall over. Why couldn't he show pain? He had just been to the vet a few days before he died, and the vet missed the abscessed tooth. Tough animals don't want to show pain or that they are week- or they will get eaten.
Between the spinal problems and the abscess, his body was giving up, even though he seemed happy the night before the emergency visit. His mind was strong but his body was spent, and finally that night his heart gave up.
Annette and I are incredibly sad. The house seems empty without Barkley, but we are finally convinced that his passing was part of God's mercy. We both cry and feel sad, but are immediately reminded of how blessed we are to have had Barkley in our life for 12 years. Barkley's trainer said today that we were blessed to have him, and that he brought joy to thousands of people.
I read this to Annette, but couldn't not cry as I was doing so. It will probably be like that for some time.
