Archived News

29th July 2008

It has been a terribly sad day for me because I had to say goodbye to Brock, my faithful friend for the past fifteen years. 

Three weeks ago he underwent a lengthy operation to remove a tumour from his liver and it took him a while to recover from the effects of the anaesthetic, but after six days of TLC he was eating and drinking again and within eight days he back to play in the garden with Monty, Moss and the boys as if nothing had happened.  The vet has stayed in touch to check the patient’s progress and was hopeful that we would have Brock with us for some time to come.  His quality of life was still good and he loved to go out into the yard with us and have a mooch about while we fed the pigs or cleaned out the hens and when I sat at my desk he would always sit right behind my chair so I couldn’t move back without talking to him first!

There was an accident yesterday with one of the farm trucks and sadly Brock was run over, he just wasn’t seen.  I took him straight to Helen, the vet and while we drove there, Brock leant against the car and cried.  By the time we reached the surgery the vet and nurses were ready for us, with needles and swabs laid out on the examination table.  After the initial examination Brock was moved into the x-ray room but by now was in severe shock, his front legs extended and rigid and his gums had turned blue so he was given oxygen.  Brock reacted when his toes were pinched so the spinal cord seemed to be okay.

I just couldn’t believe this could be happening after all he had been through lately.

The first x-ray was taken of the spine at the rear end, and as we waited for the processing it seemed to take an eternity but to my relief there were no obvious signs of a break.  The plan was to take two more spinal x-rays, one in the centre and one near the neck, so we had a full picture of the spine, however the machine decided to play up and the next two x-rays of the centre were foggy.   A nurse took the x-ray machine apart and cleaned up various parts and finally we got a clear picture of the centre of the spine at the third attempt, this also seemed clear of fractures.  Every time Brock was moved onto an x-ray plate he cried out, this was all taking a very long time for him.  I kept talking to Brock, close to his ear so he might hear the vibration of my voice, that’s how we communicated because he is deaf, that and a lot of arm waving on walks! 

After discussing various possible prognoses it was decided to put Brock on a drip, steroids to reduce inflammation, give him a dose of pain relief and leave him to rest overnight.  Before I left him yesterday his colour was more natural, he was far more relaxed and the rigidity seemed to be reducing however he was still clearly in pain but he was definately fighting back. 

This morning Helen called me to say Brock was alert but he could not stand on his back legs so they needed to x-ray his pelvis, however due to Brock’s recent analgesia knocking him for six, this wasn’t advisable again.  We arranged for me to go in after surgery hours to see Brock and hopefully by then Helen would have examined Brock further.

After Brock’s recent operation I had been into the vets to spend time with Brock and knew that he was back in ‘his’ cage once more.  However when I arrived at lunchtime today, the nurse didn’t show me straight in to Brock, so I sensed there was more bad news to come.

I heard Helen coming down the stairs and into the consulting room and the familiar sound of the x-ray negative flexing and being clipped to the light board on the wall.  The door opened and I went in holding my breath, ‘bad news I’m afraid’.

They had managed to position Brock on his back without analgesia and x-rayed his pelvis.  The negative shows his thigh shunted into the pelvis and there were a number of breaks in the pelvis itself.  Had it just been the pelvis, he may have been able to heal given time, but the damaged between the thigh and pelvis was too great to rectify on a dog of his age.

So there we were, three weeks after surgery had given Brock another chance, there was now no other option than to put him out of his misery and let him die.  

I went in to see him and he looked up, said hello to me and even put his front paw on my hand like he usually does when he’s being stroked and doesn’t want me to stop.  He spoke to me and I cried.  I know he wasn't ready to die, he didn't want to go, he hadn't given up, but I had to make that final decision because there was no other. I spoke to him so he could hear me close to his head and stroked him for a good while before Helen returned with the final injection.

Brock and Monty love to play ball

Okay, some may say he was only a dog, but he was my faithful friend for fifteen years and it was just a terrible way for him to go.  I brought him home and we have buried him here.  I had to go out for a while afterwards and when I returned the boys had made a cross for Brock’s grave.

Goodbye my friend.