Goodbye Puppyhead

Today we said goodbye to my dog and loyal friend, Loki. After meeting with the veterinarian today euthanasia was the only option left with all the problems he was suffering from.

We adopted Loki in 2004 at the age of 4 around the birthday of Megan, after a search for a Rottweiler for adoptation. We found Loki at the pound in Zoetermeer, where he’d been for a long time; before than he spend almost a year in the pound in Rijswijk. His cute little panda-eyes and his playful character made him an easy choice.

Loki has lived up to his name; like his namesake (the Norse god of mischief) Loki liked getting into things and on several occasions had to be put in his place. One the whole has was very sweet and gentile dog, who craved attention more than anything else.

In 2007 a large lump was found in Loki’s abdomen, near his right hind leg. He was diagnosed to have a cyst which had to be removed. Although the operation was successful Loki just wasn’t quite the same afterwards. He’d become incontinent and he definitely lost a lot of strength in his hind legs.

In 2008 Loki suffered a skin condition as a result of his constant leaking and his thyroid which wasn’t working properly anymore. With medication and special doggy shampoo we tried to take care of him as best as we could. Although the leaking problem was manageable with medication it never really stopped.

Although all of his problems he was still a very excitable ‘puppyhead’ (one of the names we used for him), especially around my parents (dubbed ‘opa’ and ‘oma’).  During birthdays he’d be in the crowd harvesting attention from whomever wanted to give it to him.

Last year Loki suffered an ear infection which left him mostly deaf. He would hear some sounds (like the clank of the food dish) but was unable to respond to vocal commands. We spend some time teaching him hand signals, which worked well most of the times. He remained a cheerful companion through all of this

Unfortunately at the start of this year Loki suffered several seizures in a short while. Even though he survived those, he was not quite the same after that. He became even less responsive and although he seem to recover pretty well from those he seem to understand us a bit less.

This summer it became worse as his leaking spiraled out of control, he was walking with increasing difficulty and had trouble pooping. Blood was found in his urine and antibiotics were prescribed but it didn’t improve his health. Today we visited the vet to have him checked up again and came to the conclusion there was only the one humane thing to do.

Loki has taken his last breath and is now free from his suffering. He’s endured much hardship in his life with spirit and has earned his peace. You will not be forgotten, my sweet puppyhead. I will miss you terribly much.