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04/12/04: Tres was sent over the Rainbow Bridge today where he could no longer feel pain nor be slowed down in his pursuit of joy and fun. Tres began to fail the last week and we all knew it was going to be time. The cancer had returned with a vengence, it had swelled up and was affecting his eye and he could no longer swallow food without gagging. He spent his last weekend with his favorite "mom" where he had bacon, sausage (which was ground and fed to him a morsel at a time by mom) and melted cheese - his favorite.
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Hello, my name is Tres - that is Spanish for "3" |
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Tres is an alumni from DuPage County Animal Control. They called and said they had a Chihuahua with a broken leg, could we help. The Small Dog foster asked 3 simple questions: 1. Is he nice? 2. Open his mouth and check his teeth - how old do you think he is (does he have any?) 3. Is the answer to question 1 still yes? We made it to Animal Control about 10 minutes prior to close. We had decided not to go get Tres, then something just made us turn around and go check him out. |
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Tres had a leg that was bent into a permanent curled position. After consultation with the vet, the decision to remove it was reached. Tres was off balance with the leg and seemed to bang it and feel pain on occasion. He also would not use stairs. After the surgery, Tres ran and played like a puppy, he seemed so happy that we knew we had made the right decision. This was one happy pup. He adored everyone he met, he never growled or became protective, he ate anything and he let us carry him around in a purse. But as the end the the healing period came, Tres began to experience great pain in the shoulder and then it swelled up. X-rays and an exploratory surgery to set up a drain didn't help, so we had to seek a specialist. Lucky for us, Dr. Swanson of Countryside Animal Hospital in Wheaton was willing to help. He removed the growth from Tres which was the size of a small orange and cleaned up the area. Sadly, the pathology came back that Tres had two separate types of cancer. One was a local type, but the other was very invasive and because it was located around his spine, shoulder, throat and other organs - there was no way to get it all and it would return. Tres probably only has months left. We met as a group and decided that he WOULD have a home and that would be the entire RAIN family. So Tres now has many loving moms and dad, many animal friends and gets to spend time at everyone's home. Normally, this would be unusual for a Chi, they like routine and thrive on one to one relationships. Not Tres, when he returns to a home, he acts like he hasn't left. He adores strangers, new animals, traveling and he STILL loves to ride in his purse! Although we wish we could have found Tres a wonderful home and the ending would be happily ever after, we also are thankful for the many fates that intervened. The one that turned us around, mid drive, to go to the animal control. The one that decided we should remove the leg - thus exposing the cancer and the relationship that brought us to Doc Swanson to give him a quality of life for what remains. RAIN Personal Note: Sometimes I wish they had found the cancer before we removed Tres' leg, but then we probably would not have made the choice to put him through so much. But then I would not have come to know one of the greatest animal spirits I have had the pleasure to meet. Tres inspires me to live each day more fully and to look for outcomes that might not be so obvious initially. Tres was old, broken, unwanted and unloved when he was dumped as a stray by his family...but still he trusted us, strangers...I hope to be half the person he is....pf |
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