Our dear dog, Ginger, had a "mild" heart murmur when diagnosed at 10 years old with osteosarcoma. She also had some arthritis in her lower spine, but our vet thought she was fit and healthy enough to cope with an amputation and recovery.

She had her front leg amputated on February 21 and we proceeded with chemo. In preparation for her 4th and final chemo treatment, they did a chest x-ray to check her lungs. The good news was that her lungs were clear. The bad news is that the left side of her heart was enlarged. We took the first appointment we could get with a cardiologist, which was 2 weeks later, and completed her last chemo treatment.

We noticed she was breathing heavier and not wanting to play as much, but we thought she just needed to be on heart medication. By the day of her appointment with the cardiologist, she was in full heart failure and needed to be hospitalized. With the injections of heart meds overnight, her recovery was considered successful, with all fluid gone from her lungs. They didn't know if it was her heart murmur or the stress of getting around on 3 legs that caused the heart failure.

We brought her home the next day on Wednesday and celebrated having her alive and just needing to be on meds for the rest of her life. She ate dinner that night; but other than two treats on Thursday, she refused to eat. We called the cardiologist on Thursday; he said to continue with the heart meds but to monitor her breathing. If her breathing worsened or she continued to refuse to eat, we needed to have a kidney panel done to make sure the new heart medications weren't causing kidney complications. We tried the antinausea medication we had from chemo to try to get her to eat. On Saturday, she received two injections of antinausea medication (one from the vet, one from us). Her breathing was fine, but she still refused to eat anything. On Monday, June 29, we took her back to our vet for a kidney panel. Two of the three counts were elevated (one severely) and she was dehydrated, even though she had been drinking her normal amount of water.

Our options were to spend two days at the vet on fluids, change heart medications, and continue to monitor blood work for additional side effects. There were just too many "ifs" and "maybes" and "we could try" that we decided, instead, to say good-bye. She had been such a wonderful trooper over the last four months, enduring everything we did to save her life. But she was hating having to go to the vet and the VCA clinic where she got chemo and saw the cardiologist. She hated it so much, we were literally having to drag her out of the car. With the COVID restrictions, it increased her anxiety when we weren't allowed to be with her during any treatment, check-ups, bloodwork, etc. Enough was enough, and she went peacefully (the vet allowed us to be with her).

This site calls it sending her "over the bridge." We call it "doggie heaven." Whatever it is called, it is so devastating to lose her and only time will heal our broken hearts.

Ginger is now happily running around on all four legs again, never to have to endure chemo or other vet visits again, never having to be afraid of fireworks and thunder again, never having to be in pain again. She was the most beautiful, fun, goofy, expressive, lovable big ball of fluff ever.

I'd attach another couple of photos of her but, through my tears, I can't remember or figure out how to download a photo.  If someone would please explain it to me, I'd like to show you how beautiful she is.  Thank you!