We Lost Our "Mo" Today

From Sands RV Park - March

A very, very sad day today as we lost our little dog "Mo" this morning. He had been under the care of a Vet here in Palm Springs for the last week or so after being diagnosed with a kidney ailment.

At the Vet's office this morning, Paulette and I were advised that there was nothing more they, or any medications/treatments, could do to improve Mo's kidney failure so the only humane option was to have him put to sleep. As you can imagine, it was extremely difficult and painful for both of us. Mo was 13, so in human terms he was 91 years old, but, he was still just a "puppy" to us.

This whole problem came on very suddenly and it was the last thing in the world Paulette and I thought we would have to deal with while down here in Palm Springs. Mo's problems started about 10 days ago when we noticed he was refusing to eat - even treats he normally loves. After a couple of days of this we decided to take Mo into the Palm Springs Animal Hospital to be looked at by a Vet.

The Vet, and the entire staff, at the hospital were absolutely terrific - and, they just loved Mo right from the start. We thought, and hoped, that maybe Mo had just picked up a bug or parasite of some kind. Unfortunately, Mo's blood tests showed that his kidneys weren't functioning normally - a much more serious situation. The Vet decided the best immediate treatment was to have Mo come in each morning for 5 consecutive days to have an IV of fluids to try and flush any toxins out of his system. The hope was this would correct, or at least improve, his kidney functions.

This morning was the fifth day of his IV's and when I took him in at 8:00am, Mo was not doing well at all. Yesterday, he seemed to be losing balance and strength in his hind legs. He had great difficulty even walking around. The Vet noticed this and decided to rerun the blood tests right away to see if the IV's had worked at all.

Paulette, Molly and me went back to the Vet's office at 10:00am and were advised that Mo's blood test results were not good at all. The kidneys hadn't improved and several other indicators had also gotten much worse during the past week. We were told that the prognosis for Mo was not good and he would be facing more discomfort and pain as the days wore on. The Vet advised us that he would not recommend any further treatment and that the best thing to do for Mo was to let him go now while he was still relatively comfortable and pain free.

It was an extremely difficult decision but Paulette and I had to put Mo's welfare ahead of our own and we reclutantly gave the Vet permission to go ahead with the procedure. All of us were right there holding Mo until the very end - even Molly, who seemed to sense that Mo was not well and something was wrong with him. Thankfully, it didn't take long - they gave Mo a sedative first, so he was very comfortable and experienced no anxiety, fear or pain at all. I can't say the same for us as it was almost unbearable. We are having Mo cremated and will bring his remains home with us.

Molly seems devastated and lost without Mo around. I'm sure she will be o.k. in a few days but right now she seems very, very sad not to have Mo always around.

For all of those 13 years, Mo had a great life, was loved by all of us and certainly returned the love a 100 fold. He was just a great little dog. Mo never really had any medical problems at all during his entire life up until this happened. I guess we should take some solace in that.

We already miss Mo very, very much and we always will. But, nothing will take away the great memories we have of him and the joy he brought to our family for his entire life. Mo was a very good boy!