I just thought I would update everyone.
The vet. called me back today with a bunch of information regarding what happened to Belle. We didn't do an autopsy so we will never know for sure but the vet. is convinced that Belle had cancer. He has spoken with several other vets about Belle's symptoms and test results. The general concensus is that even if we had made it to Cornell the morning she died (she had a appointment already scheduled there) that there wouldn't have been anything they could do. Belle's bone marrow wasn't able to produce new white cells which was the thing that finally conviced the vets that cancer was the problem.....along with a stack of other test results.
Belle never seemed to be in any pain so I guess that is a blessing. The night before she died I was out in the yard chasing her around. She was a great retriever but she also loved to play "keep away" with me. I never could catcher her....even that night she seemed as fast as ever. At 5:30am the next morning she just looked up and said goodbye to my wife without ever making a sound. I sure will miss her!
On a more positive note. One of Belle's sisters had puppies on October 15th and my wife is really fond of the idea of owning a puppy at least related to Belle. So we are going to pick up a new puppy this week. I thought it would be better to wait a while but my wife and kids really miss having a dog around. The puppies seem great...we have spent about 4 hours visiting them on two different occassions and I think every knows that no puppy will ever be just like Belle, but they will have their own personality. I don't want to new dog to be a replacement, just a new family member.
Again, thanks for everyone's support.
Kevin
The vet. called me back today with a bunch of information regarding what happened to Belle. We didn't do an autopsy so we will never know for sure but the vet. is convinced that Belle had cancer. He has spoken with several other vets about Belle's symptoms and test results. The general concensus is that even if we had made it to Cornell the morning she died (she had a appointment already scheduled there) that there wouldn't have been anything they could do. Belle's bone marrow wasn't able to produce new white cells which was the thing that finally conviced the vets that cancer was the problem.....along with a stack of other test results.
Belle never seemed to be in any pain so I guess that is a blessing. The night before she died I was out in the yard chasing her around. She was a great retriever but she also loved to play "keep away" with me. I never could catcher her....even that night she seemed as fast as ever. At 5:30am the next morning she just looked up and said goodbye to my wife without ever making a sound. I sure will miss her!
On a more positive note. One of Belle's sisters had puppies on October 15th and my wife is really fond of the idea of owning a puppy at least related to Belle. So we are going to pick up a new puppy this week. I thought it would be better to wait a while but my wife and kids really miss having a dog around. The puppies seem great...we have spent about 4 hours visiting them on two different occassions and I think every knows that no puppy will ever be just like Belle, but they will have their own personality. I don't want to new dog to be a replacement, just a new family member.
Again, thanks for everyone's support.
Kevin
