My Bailey was 14 when she developed a lump on the bridge of her nose near her eye. The vet wasn't very definitive about what it was, just said that it was in a location where it could not be removed. It created problems with her tear duct which resulted in eye problems. It must have been very painful because she wouldn't let me tend to cleaning out her eye and she had always been a very cooperative dog submitting willingly to a series of alergy shots without hesitation. The vet suggested it was time to put her down, yet because of her good appetite and still being able to take care of herself in other ways, I was not so sure. Of course the problem got worse and my husband and I decided maybe the Vet was right. We reluctantly made the appt. for a Friday after my husband came home from work. Of course I did a lot of crying in the bathroom and still didn't know if I was doing the right thing. Early that Friday morning Bailey had gone outside and come back in and was lying on her dog bed aside of my bed when she went into a seizure. The vet's office was not yet open, so after I dressed, I held her in my arms in the rocking chair. My husband came back home from his office and we took her in as soon as the office opened. It must have been an hour and a half. The seizure never stopped. Apparently the lump had grown to the point that it affected her brain. I always felt she made the decision for us, so in the end I didn't have to make it.

This is not an easy time of life for some of our dogs and hard too for us who love them so much.