When Jack and I moved in together, it was a very hard adjustment for Romeo. He was always use to being the only male dog in the house. So, when we moved into the house and through Rocky into the mix, Romeo had a hard time adjusting. He was very territorial over the house and over me. He eventually warmed up to Rocky, but he mainly just ignored him. After Callaghan was born, I was afraid of how Romeo would react, but he did great. He became her protector and wouldn't leave her side. He treated her as his owner. He was so sweet and would just lay around as she would "pet" him. He really was the most loving dog.
This summer, Rocky and Romeo were getting into A LOT of fights. We were afraid Rocky was going to kill him. So, we sent Rocky to my Nana's house to live. I knew Romeo wouldn't last long somewhere else because he always got depressed when I would leave. Once Rocky was gone, I noticed Romeo seemed so depressed and different. I thought that maybe it was just an adjustment for him, but then I started to do my research.
I always knew that there was a high percentage of Romeo getting cancer. When he was a pup, I took him to get fixed. While he was on the table opened up, the vet called me to ask if I was sure that he had never been fixed before. The vet said that his testicles were the size of a match point and couldn't be found. He said that eventually it would probably cause cancer. So I always knew that cancer was more than likely going to happen. I woke up and went into the kitchen to cook, and Romeo did his normal pawing at his water bowl. I told him to stop as I always would. Normally when I told him to stop he would start drinking, but he wouldn't this time. So I thought he was just being a diva. So I dumped the water and filled the bowl back up with fresh water, but he still wouldn't drink. Then I noticed that he couldn't. It was almost like his jaw was locked. So I tried to give him some cheese which he normally would eat right up, but he couldn't. So, we headed to the vet.
When we got to the vet, she noticed a place in his mouth. She said that it could have been a cut or a tumor. She wasn't sure because Romeo wouldn't let her look. So they took a bunch of blood work to see if he would be able to go under and have surgery since he was 10 years old. We headed back the next morning to see they informed me that his blood work came back and he was severely anemic. His levels were so low that if he tried to jump and he missed then he would bleed internally and die. So I had to pick him up carefully, make sure he didn't jump, and make sure Callaghan stayed away from him. I was told that more than likely it was cancer. He was going to have to go through multiple blood transfusions and cancer treatments. They did give us medicine to see if it was from a tick bite (last effort), but I was told that it was possible that he wouldn't make it through the night. So, I spent the entire weekend with him loving on him and cuddling with him. It was by far one of the hardest weekends of my life because I knew I was loosing my first baby. Saturday night Jack and I both jumped up because I could hear him gasping for air. I really thought it was his last breath. So Sunday morning I made the decision to take him to the er and have him put down. I didn't want him to suffer. It was by far the hardest decision I have ever had to make, and I question whether or not I should have done it. In the end, I know that it really was the most selfless decision and the best one for him. I think that it made loosing him harder because I held him as they injected him and have that last memory of him. I was there the day he was born and the day that he died. He was truly the best companion. His name was the most fitting name. He was my Romeo.
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