Poor Ernie the Beagle arrived in Oldies Club care in a terrible state of neglect. He’d clearly not known love in a very long time.
Despite having lots of health problems (he had to have a toe removed due to a tumour and was also being treated for a skin infection when he was in our care), Ernie found a fabulous home with a lovely couple who clearly adored this special old lad. They travelled hundreds of miles to meet him and they took all of his health woes in their stride.
We are very sad to say that Ernie only had a few months left to enjoy his new home, but here is a letter we received from his owners. Although Ernie is no longer around, we want to share his rehoming story because Ernie is a dog none of us will forget:
I am not sure if you remember Ernie, he was the 13year old beagle who’s foster parents were in Cumbria. Well we are the couple that re-homed him and have had nothing but joy since then. Unfortunately we have some sad news.
Over the past month or so we have noticed that he has been passing a little bit of blood and thought it was some sort of bladder infection. After the antibiotics he seemed to be getting better but as they began to where off, it started again and we had a few weeing accidents in the home.
We took him to the vets this week (18/06/08) and they performed a scan. Initially that found growths in his spline and bladder, he also has an irregular shape left kidney. The vet has had to open up his abdomen’s and check these out. The result is that the spline and kidney are not life threatening, however in the bladder he has what they call ‘ Transitional Cell Tumor’. This is a growth in his bladder which has grown into the bladder wall, this then affects the urinary trap and the kidneys, hence the irregular shape.
In short, Ernie is slowly dying of the tumor, we do not at this stage how long he has but the vet stated it could be less than a year. However he is no way in any pain and we could have put him forward for further surgery, however we have made a very hard and upsetting decision not too. We feel that the poor old boy has been through enough and we are going to give him the best days ever until he passes away. This also the strong advice we were given by the vet, due to Ernie’s age. He is currently on antibiotics and very strong inflammatory drugs and will be for sometime.
On a plus note he is still eating for England and being spoilt rotten. Like i said he shows no signs of this tumor bothering him and still loves his walks and car journeys. I think he is a tough old boy, with a very young mind. I have included a couple of photo’s in case anyone was following his progress.
I will say this though, we have no regret in getting Ernie and would strongly recommend others to consider an older dog, they are full of character. Ernie especially…he still like the thrill of chase, sniffing out foxes and whatever food he can find.
I thank the Oldies Club for their professionalism and their constant updates during our adoption procedure. We will keep you updated with Ernie’s progress and hope that when someone reads this it will inspire them to consider an oldie, they are a great addition to any family
Yours Jeff, Pia and Ernie
Ernie has very sadly now passed away. :(