I've had pets before, but I was quite young and was never quite close to the pets that my family kept while I was away at a college. However, my family adopted a german shepard shortly before I returned home from college, and he's basically been the first real pet I've ever had. We don't know how old he is, but he was found wandering the alleys of Bakersfield (the California central valley) in the middle of the summer, and was due to be put down before he was adopted by a german shepard rescue shelter right before they went through with it. My family adopted him shortly before I returned home from university in 2015, and I've spent most of my days around him since I've come home, becoming quite close with him. We've been very thorough with our health checkups for him, and as of January he was in perfect health. As of a week ago however, he started losing his apatite, having trouble going on long walks, and various other issues. We took him to the vet today, and on recommendation, took some X-rays, to find out that he has a severely enlarged heart, as well as what the veterinarian says is fluid in his heart and other organs, as well as possible internal bleeding as a result of cancer. We had noticed his discomfort, which is why we had taken him to the vet, but we had no idea of the extent of the illness as he displays no pain, only some discomfort. We were told that his condition could degenerate into severe internal bleeding and death at any point now, and his condition is becoming more pronounced daily. It was recommended that we put him out of his pain before he suffers severe internal bleeding, which could happen any time. I just wanted to share a few pictures that I have of him.
I went from thinking he had a stomach infection to finding out he was terminal with aggresive cancer within an afternoon, just wanted to remind any other pet owners here on j2 to maintain regular checkups on their pets, and enjoy the time they have with them while they can.
