# Azeruki Vom Alta-Tollhaus (Ruki)



## Lark (Jan 27, 2014)

Our beautiful Ruki has died. Ruki was one of Maika's last litter (the A Litter). He was only 5 years, 10 months old. Ruki had a very mild cough a few weeks ago. On February 10th we noticed his breathing was slightly labored. We took him to the emergency room at Michigan State University, thinking maybe he had bronchitis or mild pneumonia. I think they initially thought we were crazy as his symptoms were so mild. They were going to just have us take him home and follow-up with our own vet, but the intern wanted to do a quick u/s of his lungs. Upon u/s she saw some scant fluid around the lungs. She did a chest x-ray, and found extensive cancer in his lungs. You could not even see normal lung tissue - it was almost a complete white-out. 

They had blastomycosis as a differential, so I latched on to that with all of my might. They had recommended euthanization, but I took him back to MSU internal medicine on Feb 12th. They did a urine antigen test and sent it to a lab in Indiana. Unfortunately the antigen test came back negative. MSU believes he had hemangiosarcoma.

Last night we noticed Ruki seemed to be working even harder to breathe, and could not get comfortable. For the first time ever, he did not want to play with his ball. At that point we realized we were holding on to him for our own sake, not his. We took him back to MSU and with my husband, son, and son's girlfriend we let him go. He went quickly and peacefully.

We are so heartbroken. I am thankful we had a week to process it, but it just seems so sudden. We honestly did not see this coming. I don't know how we will survive without our beautiful, happy Ruki.


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## RuthArt (Oct 25, 2017)

I'm so sorry for your loss, it's devastating.

may you find peace in knowing that Ruki is not
suffering, that you love him forever, and hopefully
he will find my Wiena on the other side of Rainbow
Bridge where they will play and be there to
join us when we get there.

you are in my thoughts


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## debr1776 (Feb 4, 2018)

I'm so very sorry for your loss.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

That is so heart breaking. I wish you well and healing. If the Rainbow Bridge is true, there are a lot of great dogs waiting for him.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

So sorry for your loss. Too young....Run free Ruki


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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

I’m so sorry for the loss of your Ruki


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## tc68 (May 31, 2006)

Sorry to hear that you only had a week. A neighbor of mine had a week with her 6yo dog too. She was devastated. Didn't see her for half a year afterwards. I had 2.5 months with mine and I thought that was too soon.


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## [email protected] (Jan 16, 2018)

I'm very sorry to hear this sad news. Thanks for your story, though, as it tells me that sometimes minor symptoms are worth checking out. I hope that happy memories of Ruki will help you even as you miss him.


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## Lark (Jan 27, 2014)

I just feel like we had to have missed some symptoms along the way. He goes to the vet every six months, and she is a great vet. His weight was always on the low side, but that was the same his entire life. Now some of his funny mannerisms we are questioning. He had this really cute way he would stand, and sort of have his head low. Now we wonder if he did that because he couldn't breathe. He would sigh frequently, which we again just thought was a cute thing. I took him on a bike ride last spring, and he got really tired. We had to take forever to get home so he could keep resting. I thought he was just out of shape from winter. Now I wonder if he had cancer at that point. I guess it really doesn't matter either way.

The silence in our house is deafening. Now I am wondering if I eventually do want to get another dog. We loved Ruki so much, and we were so happy to have him.


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## RuthArt (Oct 25, 2017)

I hope you do feel like getting another dog someday, it's just too lonely
without one. (I have cats, but miss having the bond with a dog, but hubby
thinks at my age, 72, and with my walking issues, it really isn't feasible
to get another....that breaks my heart.).


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## tc68 (May 31, 2006)

Lark said:


> I just feel like we had to have missed some symptoms along the way. He goes to the vet every six months, and she is a great vet. His weight was always on the low side, but that was the same his entire life. Now some of his funny mannerisms we are questioning. He had this really cute way he would stand, and sort of have his head low. Now we wonder if he did that because he couldn't breathe. He would sigh frequently, which we again just thought was a cute thing. I took him on a bike ride last spring, and he got really tired. We had to take forever to get home so he could keep resting. I thought he was just out of shape from winter. Now I wonder if he had cancer at that point. I guess it really doesn't matter either way.
> 
> The silence in our house is deafening. Now I am wondering if I eventually do want to get another dog. We loved Ruki so much, and we were so happy to have him.



I did the same thing with my dog. I thought about the symptoms that I probably missed. Mine had cancer of the liver and I had to put him down just before Christmas. (It was the worst Christmas I've ever had.) Every summer when it got warmer, his appetite decreased until it got cooler in fall. This past year, his appetite was worse than every previous summer. I didn't think anything of it. Just thought maybe it was because he was getting older. When it got cooler in September, his appetite didn't improve. That and other symptoms like he started vomiting and had diarrhea, got me worried and I took him to the vet. Playing the "if" game, I constantly think that if I took him to the vet at the beginning of spring could the cancer have been small enough to be cut out? Because that was an option that could have given me a few more years with him. When I finally took him to the vet in October, it was too late. The whole liver was covered, plus maybe the pancreas and kidneys. The oncologist told me he had a few months left. Things started getting worse and towards the end, really bad. People say, if there are more bad days than good, it's time to put them down. So I did. I cried everyday from the time I found out it was cancer (in essence I already started my grieving process) to the day I picked up his ashes. That was the last day I cried. I donated a lot of his stuff, food, and medicine to a local GSD (magsr.org) rescue which was very good for my recovery process, knowing that his medicine was saving the life of another GSD. I also talked to my cousin and a friend who were both going through grieving processes (kinda like group therapy) from losses of their dogs at the same time as mine. That helped a lot. (I'll never badmouth group therapy again.) Just like you said, "the silence in the house is deafening." Same here. We didn't know what to do without a GSD in the house. 2 months later, now, I've just put a deposit down on a new GSD puppy. He will be coming home in 3 weeks. You will get there. I promise.


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## KaiserAus (Dec 16, 2016)

I'm so sorry for your loss!!


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

So sad. 
I had a little mix that hung on a long time. She just didn't seem to want to leave us. In hind-sight I could see the signs that were more than just "out of shape" or "old age". They hang on so well through discomfort. It is hard but kind to let them go. 

I do hope that you can open your hearts to another in time. It is a tribute to the wonderful times you've had with all the other dogs that have shared your life. I hope I can always have a dog...perhaps when I am an old timer, I'll adopt an old timer and we can share a sunny spot on the couch together.


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