Max was our pet for about 5 or 6 years. We got him from an elderly man, Jim, who my mom did laundry for when she worked at the Clean Spot. Well one day Jim was put in a retirement home and was no longer able to keep Max. So he decided to give him to my family becasue he knew he would be very loved and happy. He came into our lives at a very good time. My mom was wanting another baby; but after having Jake and the complications that came with it, she was no longer able to have kids. None of us thought we would get so attached to him so fast. He was just like a person. He always wanted to sit on the couch by someone, but in order for him to get up you had to scoot over to the right to make room for him because he would only sit on your left side. He didn't like to eat alone, so he would run back into the laundry room where his food was, grab a mouth full, come back into the living room, drop the food, and eat it piece by piece. It usually took him about 20 minutes to eat his filling. If he was bored and no one would play with him he would play with him self; tossing balls up into the air and catching them and barking and rolling on the floor upside down. He had a lot of just funny little quirks that made him; him. He knew just how to touch anyones life that he entered into. When you would get home; no matter how bad of a day you had, Max would make it better. As soon as you walked through that door his little tail would just start going a million miles and hour and he would howl at you. That was a cure all for a bad day. He knew just how to fix everything. But Max wasn't just fun to be around, he was comforting too. He had eyes that just melted your heart, "sweet eyes" is what we called them. He used to always sleep in my room, and any night that I was crying alone in my room, he would lay by me and ask me to pet him and let me talk to him. If I was laying down I would have to be careful to keep my mouth shut becasue he liked to like the tears off your face. He helped me through so much. In fact anytime anyone cried he could sense it and would go to that room and just lay by that person; offering them his comfort and peaceful presence. But when Max stopped running around, and howling, and just being Max, we knew something was wrong. The first part of January was when we really noticed it. We took him into the vet and found out that he had gotten into D-Con, or rat poisoning. So they purscribed him some antibiotics and vitamin K for the next 10 days. Once we were done with that, he perked up for a couple days, but then fell right back into the same pattern. Sleeping lots, never wanting to play, slow moving. We thought that maybe his food was making him sick, so we switched it. But still no change. So we tried switching his food dishes; maybe there was a bacteria growing in them. But even that didn't help. Soon it looked like he was losing weight, you could feel his bones more prominently, and you could tell that his muscles were starting to atrophy. Finally on January 31, he began to get bloated. He really just looked like what he used to after he had eaten a lot of food; a full belly. We were all sitting on the couch watching TV and we could hear Max trying to breathe. He was laying next to me on the couch and you could tell that he was laboring really hard to get any air. Then it started getting raspier and hollow sounding. So my dad called the vet and we were supposed to go in at 4:30. Once it was about time to take max in we all got our coats on and went. I think we could all sense it was the beginning of the end. The ride over there was painful, he couldnt get comfortable, and I just wanted to have magic and make him feel better. Dr. Quil took us into the examination room and first weighed him and listened to his heart and lungs. Then we tried to take some blood out of his front legs. He had to try to do it on both legs just becasue it was taking so long to get it out that it was actually clotting in the syringe. Then we started talking about the Dr.'s suspicions of what it was, then he went out and did his blood work. My puppy was just laying on the cold table breathing so hard with his belly just getting tighter and tighter. When the doctor came back in we could all see the worried expresion on his face. He started explaining his blood work. He had almost triple the amount of white blood cells that he should, and virtually no red blood cells; which include platletts. Dr. Quil told us that he probably had a bone marrow disease of some sort or lukemia. As the doctor was crying we all lost it and started crying. I looked at my poor Maxie laying on the table and could tell he was tired, and couldnt fight much longer. His sweet eyes were fading and you could see that he was scared. Dr. Quil suspected that the reason why his stomach was getting so large was because he had to platletts to cover the vessle walls, he was bleeding internally. And it was just all going to his stomach. We asked if he was in very much pain and the doctor said he probably wasnt feeling anything sharp like a bone break, but he was certanly miserable. We decided to let the doctor take him out of the room to get an x-ray. Not more than a minute later he came running back to the room telling us he was quiting and ran right to another room with limp max in his arms. Everyone started crying even harder, I could feel my heart being ripped out of my chest and laying there next to Max. Dr. Quil called us into the room. Slowly we filed in there to see our Max laying on a table with an air mask on his poor little snout, just looking tired, and scared. He expalined to us that his respiratory system quit. All I wanted to do was to kiss him better. The doctor asked my mom to hold the mask on his face while he stuck a needle into his abdomen where it was bulging. Imediatly the syringe filled with blood. Thats when we knew for sure that he wasnt going to pull through. Dr. Quil wasn't even optomistic of his chances. So we made a family decision to let him go. Gradually we all said our good byes and kissed our puppy for the last time. The hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life was leave him, just walk out of the room and let him meet his fate. I wanted to be there to make sure he was ok and not scared. But I knew that I probably wouldnt be able to stand having my puppy die in my arms. We filed out to the front room slowly all crying harder and harder. We knew what was going on in the other room. He was gone and it killed me. After what seemed like half an hour Dr. Quil back out with a box... our Maxie. He gave it to my dad and gave us his best wishes. It was lightly snowing when we burried him in the back yard. In a box that we had at our house. We put his bed, his favorite blanket, his favorite treats, and all of his toys in there with him. He was out of pain, but I knew there was forever going to be a scare on all of our hearts.
We think when Dr. Quil took Max out of the room to get the x-ray was when Max knew it was ok to go. Because he knew that we wouldnt be there to see it. Its really hard not coming home to a welcoming howl, or hearing his feet on the hard wood floor. Sometimes I catch my self thinking I heard his tags jinggling like he is coming into the next room. Max was one in a million. He can never be replaced, but he will never be forgotten.
Rest in peace Maxie, we love you SO much. Jim will take good care of you till we get to see you again. Thank you for helping me through all the tough times. We miss you.
