Tribute to Barrie’s Life

Barrie said goodbye to us at 4pm today. We decided it was best to lay him to rest in his favourite place, outdoors in our garden.

It was a late night for us all last night, we all spent time  with him and shared a special moment together. Barrie seems happy to be home. This morning brings even more sadness as we come to terms with putting him to sleep. We are hoping for a miracle, but we have to do what is best for him. We have decided to get the vet out later this afternoon, so he can come to rest at home. until then all we can do is say our goodbyes….

We collected Barrie this afternoon.  He is looking the same as yesterday and his mouth is quite sore from the ulcers.  He seems to be happy to be home again.  His sister, Charlie, is avoiding him and has hissed at him - I think she can sense that something is not right.  We are all enjoying our time with him, having little chats with gentle kisses and cuddles.  Barrie even jumped up onto ‘grannys’ lap for a few minutes.  Our son has asked a lot of questions and we have been open with him, explaining whats to come.

Barrie is not eating much food, just licking up what he can and drinking water and we are keeping him as comfortable as possible.  Charlie was on our bed so I got Barrie and put him down near to her and they gave each other a few looks.  She did not hang around for long, at least she didn’t hiss at him again!

We are dreading tomorrow and wish that we didn’t have to make the hard decision of putting him down but it is the kindest thing we can do.  Obviously, we would rather prefer for him to drift off to sleep peacefully tonight but knowing Barrie he will still be around in the morning…

We visit Barrie and even though he seems okay in the picture, we can see a difference and he is not well - probibly from the ulcers.  The vet feels that it would no longer be fair to continue treatment as there has been no improvement on Barries’ kidneys. He has been given a steroid injection and antibiotics to help treat the ulcers. This will keep in him comfortable for now.

It is with much sadness we have had to make the hard decision to stop treatment tomorrow afternoon. We will be able to take him home for one last night. We will do our best to be brave for the sake of our son and Barries’ sister Charlie, who has been looking for him since last week. We would love to keep him at home for longer, but this would not be fair as he may go downhill quite fast.

We will cherish every moment with him when he is back home tomorrow night.  There will be no update tomorrow morning but we will keep you posted with pictures and a video of him at home late tomorrow night.  Please don’t forget that we want to raise awareness, so please tell everyone you know about the dangers of anti-freeze.  If you would like to help in any way, please contact us through the links on the right (www.antifreezekills.co.uk)

The vet did not bring good news this morning, the blood-tests have showed no improvement. Barrie has developed ulcers in his mouth and throat, which is making it uncomfortable for him to eat. The decision has been made to leave the drip in for now, as this will keep him hydrated. Mel went up with a colleague to visit him during her lunch break but unfortunately did get to see him as there where quite a few other dogs in the kennels where Barrie is being kept. We have made an appointment to meet with the vet later on to decide on what to do……

The vet called and said there was not much change since this morning. He changed the drip for the last time, as he says he would like to see Barrie go without it from tomorrow morning. If he can manage , maybe, just maybe he can come home……

The vet was out on a call this morning so we rang him at 10.00am to get an update. Barrie is not out of the woods yet.  Although he seems to be improving and eating well, this does not mean that his kidneys are functioning as they should. Even though Barrie is passing a lot of fluid, the vet is concerned, as this maybe an indication that the kidneys are not working properly, due to the fluids not being able to concentrate in the kidneys before being passed.  Barries’ drip has been slowed down to a maintanence level and this will continue until tomorrow.  We are still optimistic that he is a fighter and will pull through.  Its now been almost one week since we first noticed he was not well and 5 days since he was admitted, and this is what gives us the hope to continue any treatment that the vet deems necessary.  We did manage to sneak a visit thanks to the kind vet on call atDonview Veterinary Clinic this morning.  As you will see in the video he wanted to get out of the cage and have an explore, that’s our Barrie boy, no fear. He is again looking better and if it wasn’t for the drip you would not say he was ill at all, apart for the times he gets up and is wobbly on his feet!  The vet is going to give us a call later on today for an update.

The vet called at 9:00am to update up on Barries’ condition - he is still the same as yesterday.  He has been eating chicken, drinking water and passing fluids.  This is good news as it tells us that he is still fighting.  We go along for a visit at 10:00am and he is happy to see us.  Our son is with us today and mother has joined us too!  When we arrived, Barrie was lying down in his new big penthouse he got for the week-end.  However, he proceeded to get up to greet us all even though he looked a bit groggy - he was sort of sleeping when we got there!  We had a bit of a chat and he gave us some kisses and also purred a little bit.  Maybe our little visits are encouraging him to keep fighting.  Barrie is going to stay on the drip for the week-end.  As the Veterinary Clinic is closed tomorrow we might not be able to visit but the vet is going to give us a call  in the morning to update us on his progress.  We hope to sneak in a very brief visit in the morning when a staff member is there to feed the animals…

Remember to look at the videos on the right column

We have spent the morning worrying about Barrie and shedding a few tears at the possibility of losing a dear friend.  We have also prepared our son, who is only 6, to the possibilities that Barrie may go and live with the angels.  However, on speaking with the vet at the scheduled 3:00 pm appointment, we find out that Barrie has brightened up quite a bit and has eaten too!  The 3 of us visit Barrie and he does indeed look a lot better.  It amazing how a few hours can make a difference.  BUT we still dont know if he is going to pull through.  We await with bated breath on tomorrows visit…