[labrax]

We've been dealing with a problem with our 11 year old lab Mariah this past week. She had a problem with the disks in her back. Tried a shot of Dex, pregnisone and muscle relaxers and while there was initial improvement, she started to regress. Wife calls while I was actually out fishing in Falmouth this morning to report that Mariah's front and rear legs had given out on her when walking and she was panting pretty good while resting, which is a sign they are in some pain. We brought her back to the vets and found that she had some lymph node swelling too, so we made the decision to euthanize her and let her go.

She was part of my wife's life before me, and I am actually allergic to dogs - but she was part of the deal and I became very attached to her. My wife is a former vet tech, and loves all pets, but I was surprised at how emotional I am/was over putting her down. The worst part is my 5 year old daughter is looking up in the air and asking the dog to come back down from Heaven, and telling us that this 'is the worst day of her life'. Kids bounce back and she'll probably be asking us for a new dog by tomorrow night. Just needed to vent a bit...