An Obituary - Rufus 2000 - 2008

8 years ago, I bought a house

So, of course I wanted a dog

the two go hand in hand

There were just two rules:

the dog had to be a Basset Hound (we grew up with them)

and NO puppies!

who in their right mind brings home puppies?

They don't know the rules on pooping and peeing

They put anything in their mouths

NO puppies!

There was a problem with that

I volunteered at the local humane society

in the cat room

definitely no puppies there

but

one Sunday, when I was bringing a load of cat room trash to the back

someone did a nefarious thing

they put a puppy in the back room while they cleaned its pen

a Basset puppy

the worlds cutest breed of puppy

Squirmy, big feet, big ears

This is Boris, chilies dog via Flickr

Boris
Originally uploaded by chilie

who can resist that?

not me!

He was two months old

with an awful name of Max

His original owners bought him at a pet store

Likely he was a mill dog

After three weeks, they realized they couldn't handle a puppy

Well he became mine, and got a real Basset name, Rufus

He was happy to be in my home
For a day or two

thus began his burden of perpetual Basset Angst
An angst that continued throughout his life
relentless
angst

The future of this blog

Over time, this blog will be winding down

There will be some more Rufus posts before I close shop here

but Angel does not have the same Eeyore personality that Rufus had

so the continued adventures of Angel and the furry freeloaders will be continued at Angel's new blog Disenchanted Diva

I appreciate anyone who enjoyed reading Rufus' musings on life and hotdogs

and I appreciated your thoughts and prayers given during the times of Rufus' illness

Some final news

The vet's bag of tricks ran out today

There was a brief moment of hope yesterday that things might turn around

but Rufus' health declined today

the vet didn't have any more hope that things would improve

it wasn't worth letting Rufus continue on in his condition

so Rufus was put to sleep


Rufus was survived by:

My Person

The Squishy Cat who has missed his presence for naps
Angel, who won't have a partner for Doggy Porn anymore
The Little Cat who is now licking and eating Angel's head (something he liked to do with great regularity on Rufus)
The weird cat, who's probably hiding under the bed at this moment
The Funny Walking Cat, who thought I was not in my right mind when bringing home a "gasp" dog 8 years ago
The New Cat, who's probably more concerned about waiting for her close up, from Mr. DeMille
Angel will get to eat all of the droppings from the Treat Dispensers
and the Food who has not one idea

A Rufus Update

My Person blogging again.

Things with Rufus have been up and down

He continues to stay at the place with all the animals and people

His eyes are completely blind at this point

And he is losing some weight

and frankly, he looks and probably feels like shit

I got to spend about an hour with him today

He was mostly very tired

But the big problem is his liver

It keeps behaving badly
the guy in the crinkly suit is trying to manage and support the liver

But if it doesn't get it's act together, it gonna be in for a whoopin

The liver keeps causing Rufus to throw up whatever is in his stomach

including the medicine that is trying to get the fungus out of his system

Rufus needs a happy liver to let the medicine stick around and do it's work

At this point, things can go either way

His spleen has become affected by the problems

but who needs a spleen anyway?


Pray That he doesn't Die Soon

Previous - Well, there's good news and bad news
Previous - I'm Going Back
Previous - I'm Still Sick
Previous - I'm Sick

And on another note

the dandly-lion has behaved during his time at the vet clinic

and the rest of the pets continue to take over the beds

Pray That he doesn't Die Soon

Previous - I'm Going Back

Well, there's good news and bad news

My Person blogging here

OK, not really. It's pretty much all bad news.

Rufus does not have hepatitis

he has been diagnosed with Blastomycosis

I don't know how he got it, but the mulch theory could be in play because I did a bunch of mulching in the yard in the weeks before he showed symptoms of illness

his right eye is looking better, the left eye worse

but the eyes are showing signs of glaucoma

his serum was very yellow

he has a lot of yeast in his system

my vet is waiting for some more test results to come back

he said this used to be more rare, he used to only see 2 or 3 cases a year

now he sees 2 or 3 a month

not every dog survives

and since his liver is already compromised, who knows how this will go

from reading on this, the treatment is very expensive

and some people have their dogs' eyes removed


but first things first

right now, the gameplan is to see what comes back tomorrow

and if Rufus' system can handle the treatment

then it will be a matter of figuring out if I can afford the treatment and work with my vet to see what supportive care will work for him

Resources -

BLASTOMYCOSIS IN THE DOG
Blastomycosis
Blastomycosis--Fungal Disease Common in Outdoor Dogs
Canine Blastomycosis Awareness
From Merck - Blastomycosis
Blastomycosis forum
Facebook group
Blastomycosis case database
The Blastomycosis website



Pray That he doesn't Die Soon

Previous - I'm Going Back
Previous - I'm Still Sick
Previous - I'm Sick

I'm going back

to the place with all the animals and people

based on My Person's questions, I'm more sick than they thought

they want to check me and bleed me

one of the things My Person had asked was if it was ok to give me dandy-lion

they said yes that it was ok

unless the dandy-lion ate me first

they told My Person not to bring the dandy-lion

they didn't have room for such a large creature

My Person packed it anyway
Pray That I don't Die Soon

Previous - I'm Still Sick
Previous - I'm Sick

I'm still sick

and now I can see less and less

I've started bumping into things

I got a little panicky going out to potty this afternoon

so My Person has been working with me

She's been telling me Forward, Turn Around, Turn Left, Turn Right, To the Left, To the Right, Up, Drop, and Stop

I get Stop, Drop, and Up

the rest I'm still fuzzy on

My Person is impressed how fast I've picked up some things

she says it's impressive how quick I learn when I have to

I don't know if I should feel complimented or insulted

tomorrow, she's going to talk to the place with all the animals and people

she wants to know if I can be switched to a different food

she thinks my body may not be processing things properly right now and I'm losing weight

she's also going to ask them to put me on Denosyl and Marin

I hope they do that

then I would get even more hotdogs


Pray That I don't Die Soon


Previous - I'm Sick

I'm Sick

I have a virus

and a blue eye

and I'm tired a lot

but now I get hotdogs!


twice a day

with a pill in them

but I don't chew my food anyway

so I don't notice the pill so much

I also get some stuff out of a tube

I wouldn't eat it

not even with hotdogs

so now I get hotdogs and canned dog food

We're back

from the place with all the animals and people

where we went while someone searched for fish in My Person's wrist

we got drugged this morning before we left for home

it stormed

everyone gets worked up when it storms

we've mostly just snored since we got home


Pray That I Die Soon


Previous - Fish
Previous - We're Going Away