Gromit crosses the bridge

A few weeks ago I shared that my dear friend Lisa's chocolate lab, Gromit was battling cancer. I'm very sad to report that Gromit crossed the rainbow bridge late last night.

Gromit and Lisa

He passed surrounded by many friends who loved him dearly. The time was like an active lovefest - both beautiful to celebrate his life and heart wrenching to say that final goodbye.

Please keep purring and praying for Lisa as she grieves. Her heart is shattered.

Gromit - Thank you for your beautiful heart and kind spirit. You had such a love for life and a delightful soul. Your ability to make Lisa's face beam with joy was a true gift. I can picture you now, pain-free in heaven with your tail wagging like mad as you try so hard to patiently wait to be reunited with your beloved Lisa. Rest now Gromit and know you are loved and missed by many.

Gromit update

Thank you everyone for your ongoing purrs for Gromit and Lisa. You all are so kind. Please keep the purrs coming.

I had the opportunity to go with Lisa to the vet appointment today. Gromit's liver values are higher than we would like, but the recommendation is to try another round of chemo. Considering the other options, it's the best option out of a bunch of not great options. Gromit is being a good sport about all this stuff, he's such a gentle, sweet dog.

This is Oliver, not Gromit!

And a quick a rant about the veterinarian speciality center that we went to. I've been to a speciality vet clinic with several of my cats and it was very similar to my regular vet experience, only more expensive. But Lisa's vet specialty center does things very differently than what I've been used to, upon entering there is a large open waiting room. After checking in, the vet tech meets you in the waiting room, gets the update about the dog and then takes the dog back and leaves you in the waiting room. After some time, the vet comes out and discusses the situation about your dog, right there in the waiting room in front of the world. Once that conversation is complete, they finish up the paperwork and the vet tech returns your dog. Lisa tells me if they have bad news to deliver they will bring you to a room to talk with the vet, or you can request a private room, but my guess is such a request would probably bring about an additional charge.

I was absolutely shocked at the lack of privacy, it felt overtly cruel and extremely dishonoring. I know for me, talking with my vet about the wellbeing of my cats and making difficult end of life choices feels very vulnerable to me, so to do this in a loud waiting room with lots of other people listening in would be horrifying. This type of service is what I would expect from an automobile service center, not a medical or veterinary establishment.

Sadly, it would be difficult for Lisa to change oncologists now, with Gromit near the end of his battle with cancer. She's going to stick it out with this place for now, but next time she needs a specialist, I'll be happy to introduce her to a place that in my opinion, respects the intimate relationship between pet and human. Before today, I had no idea this kind of place existed, has anyone else experienced a place that does things like this?

Gromit needs purrs

My dear friend Lisa's beloved Chocolate Lab, Gromit, is in need of some purrs.

As you can see, Gromit has an amazing power,
he can make Lisa's face beam with joy.

Gromit's been battling cancer for some time and after a short remission, things doesn't appear to be going so well. He's had several rounds of chemo and now there are signs his liver is not holding up, while the skin lesions appear to be returning. They go back to visit the oncologist this morning.  Please pray and purr for their well-being.

Longtime blog followers may remember Gromit, he's shown up in many posts over the years. And did you know that Theo and Gromit are old friends? Yep, back in the days when Theo would travel, he would come with us to visit Lisa and Gromit at their house and Lisa always brought Gromit to our place when she visited.

Theo, eating treats off of Gromit's paw

Theo, preforming a quality control audit of Gromit's food dish

Gromit playing ball in our yard, while Theo snoopervises

Gromit loves to eat corn on the cob!

Theo loves to eat corn on the cob!

Gromit's a good-sized Chocolate Lab but that doesn't stop him from being a lap dog!

love

Rose daringly checks out Gromit

Harmony

Gromit                                    Nov. 29, 2014

Don't tell Theo, but Gromit's favorite toy is a stuffed cat. He's loved on this toy so much that Lisa has had to patch it back up, thus it has become known as Franken-kitty.

Franken-kitty, Gromit's favorite toy

Please send your purrs for Gromit and Lisa, we are all so worried about them.