Filbert

I am not an astronomer or astrologer or cosmologist, I don’t know how to read star charts or interpret the alignment of the planets, but I can tell you this much, the universe is not happy right now. I don’t know if some unsuspecting planet has stumbled into some unwelcoming house or something is in retrograde, but I would really like it if it could all just stop. Writing this on Thursday, I can say whole-heartedly, this week sucked (again). The day after we buried Diego, another one of the Lodge dogs died. Filbert was old and not in the best of health, but we had no idea he was on Death’s doorstep. His lymph nodes have been swollen for quite some time and the vets thought it was Lyme’s Disease, for which he was being treated, but his glands were still huge and there hadn’t been any change since he started the course of drugs. He was scheduled for a Lymph Node biopsy on Friday, but then on Tuesday night, he wouldn’t eat and didn’t want to move. The caregivers at the Lodges took him down to the clinic and it became very clear that he wasn’t doing well at all; by morning his lungs were filling with fluid. The vets suspected Lymphoma, but by then his condition was too unstable for him to be sedated for a biopsy. They were planning to just begin treatment for the Lymphoma without a confirmed diagnosis to see if his condition would improve, but by late afternoon, it was clear he wasn’t going to make it out of this. The decision was made then to euthanize him, so at a quarter to five everyone came up to the clinic to say their last good-byes and we were all there with him as he quietly passed. He was bundled up with two of his most favorite stuffed toys and will be buried sometime next week.
He was an ornery little old man, but we all loved him very much. He is known throughout the sanctuary for his tendency to hump anyone caught unawares in his run, sometimes even ripping off articles of clothing - dirty old man! He had surgery several months ago and had to be kept in the bathroom (off the sand) for a few weeks until his incision healed; we always joked that, given the option, he would certainly have chosen the bathroom as his permanent residence over a run because in the bathroom he need not rip people’s clothes off - they did it for him. However his expansive collection of toys would have made it difficult to even find the toilet; he loved his stuffed animals and you could often find him holding court from his bed, a selection of his most cherished toys arranged around the run for him to admire. He was a good man, dirty, but good and it is heartbreaking to know that he never got to find his forever home and a family of his own.
(Photo copyright Best Friends Animal Society.)