RYLEY

Our Ryley is gone.  He was diagnosed with bone cancer in June.

Moving into the RV has been the best thing we could have done for Ryley's last months.  While living in a regular home with a back yard, we only took our dogs for walks for our own enjoyment.  Now that we are living in an RV, we HAVE to take the dogs for multiple walks.  Ryley loved all the new smells every day.  Much better than the same old smells in the backyard.
We've only been at Four Paws Kingdom Campground for 2 days. Ryley has had a blast in those 2 days. He had been depending more on our help walking him with the harness. Although he never showed pain, he was using his cancerous leg less & less. His spirit has always been happy through  all he's been through.  See his biography HERE.
I was able to spend the morning laying outside with him and petting him all morning. He was quite relaxed. It was difficult to make the decision since he didn't seem in distress.  We chose to put him to sleep maybe a little early.  He had a terrible night and today wouldn't walk or go potty. His shoulder has ballooned out which makes it uncomfortable to lay and roll over. But being a Saturday, we were afraid if he had another bad night, then he would not only have to suffer through Saturday night, but also Sunday night, until the vet opened on Monday. We knew he wouldn't get better with rest. This was damned bone cancer. He was too good a dog to be selfish and keep him for us. We loved him enough to let him go before he suffered a lot. (Yes, I'm crying as I type.)
Birgit, an owner of the campground has been absolutely wonderful. This was the best place to be other than home for Ryley's time to come.  We don't have cell service and the vet was closing at 1pm. I didn't want to leave Ryley to try to find someplace to make a phone call and explain to a vet we've never seen, our situation.  Birgit took care of it all for us.  She called her vet, explained everything, gave the vet all our info, so when we arrived, we could concentrate on our last moments with beloved Ryley.
We were hoping to avoid the stress of a vet visit. We hoped since he had never been to this vet he would be relaxed. But no, our smarty knew where he was. Different place, same environment. Poor baby was shaking as he usually does at the vet's office.
I hope he is running around with Chance and having a great time barking up a tree at the squirrels!

DOGGIE EMERGENCY: Lyla

Our 10 yr old Irish Setter, Ryley has bone cancer, so he has been on Rimadyl and Tramadol for pain.  We put them in those 7 day AM/PM plastic pill containers.  MOST of our meds (dogs & people) are put away high in a cabinet. But since Ryley gets pills multiple times per day, we left his pills on my computer table.  Lyla for the most part is a well behaved dog. But she will lose self control after much contemplation and counter surf. In this case she table surfed. The cookie jar of treats are on the same table that the pain meds were on. 
We had left to return to our stick & brick house for a few hours to pack & clear out.  We left our doggies in the RV. When we got back, the pill container was on the floor with many chew marks. All compartments open and EMPTY!!! There were at least 6 days (AM & PM) worth of pain meds in there and now gone.  Before we panicked, we got on our hands & knees and checked all over the floor hoping we would find the pills loose. No luck. Lyla not only ate the chewable Rimadyl, but she also at the nasty tasting (from what I've been told) Tramadol also!
A call to Animal Poison Control at $65. and were told to induce vomiting with hydrogen peroxide.  We did, but no vomiting. Waited 15 minutes as instructed and repeated. Still no vomiting. Poison control said to bring her to emergency vet.
Well, on to our home away from home, Garden State Veterinary Specialist Hospital in Tinton Falls, NJ 07753. They gave Lyla an injection that was to induce vomiting. Nope! Just some drooling & foaming. She was given fluids and kept over night for observation.
Even though she took at least 10x's the normal dose, it was just below what poison control felt would cause kidney and liver failure. They did say that Tramadol is an opiate, so she was probably feeling pretty "good" psychologically! She probably had quite the HIGH!

Lyla has to be on a bland diet and anti-acid and stomach coating meds for 5-10 days.  We'll follow up with a blood test in Oct. to make sure her organs are functioning properly. 
Through this whole ordeal, she never seemed to feel bad at all. Of course, Scott & I were a mess. This is the 1st time we've had a health issue with our dogs that was our stupid fault.
Cost: $65. - Poison control $895.00 - Garden St. Vet Spec.