Hairy Houdini AKA Hootie Phillips ~ May 6, 2008 - April 2, 2021 ~ R.I.P.

This is the human mama posting today. My dear, sweet Hootie went to the Rainbow Bridge on April 2nd, 2021. On April 1st Patrick & I, along with both Hootie and Jane had made the 9 hour trip to visit our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter Rosebud north of Seattle. We had checked in to our hotel and gotten unpacked. Fed the dogs and were relaxing. Hootie was laying on the foot of the bed and had just thrown up a little bit. I cleaned it up and then began the tummy rub. It was while I was rubbing his belly that I realized that it was hard as a rock and that he wasn't laying with his legs up in the air as he usually did when I'd rub his belly. His legs were in a strange crossed position. I realized that he couldn't move them. I called to Patrick and said we need to find a Veterinary Emergency Room. Went to the computer and found Veterinary Specialty Center of Seattle close by the hotel. It was around 10:30pm when we rushed him to the E.R. Since it was dark and Washington State was still in level 2 Covid19 status the E.R. would not allow us to come in with Hootie. Pat had carried him, wrapped in a towel, to our car from the hotel and we were sitting out on the car tailgate petting him and talking on the phone with the ER for about 20 minutes before they sent someone out to take him inside. We had no idea what was the matter, only that it wasn't right. We sat outside in our car until a little before midnight a veterinarian called us on the phone and said that he had very bad news for us. The vet said that they took an ultrasound and found an 11cm tumor on his spleen. His stomach cavity was full of blood and they would be giving him iv fluids and also get some of the blood from his tummy. I asked to please sedate him to keep him fear-free because he always gets shakey at the vets and since we couldn't be with him.... I didn't want him to be in pain. The diagnosis was he had Hemangiosarcoma, a ruthless, fast spreading cancer. They could operate to remove the tumor, but didn't give him a chance of living much more than a few months, if the operation didn't kill him. We were in shock. I told the vet that we wanted to call our veterinarian back home in the morning and that we'd get back in touch with them as soon as that was done. Doc Hall agreed that there is no good news as far as Hemangiosarcoma. Since Hootie was a stoic little fellow he was probably in a lot of pain and Doc agreed that euthanasia was probably the kindest act we could do. We called the E.R. and told them our decision. We wanted to spend some time with Hootie to say our good-byes and let him know how much we loved him. They put us in a room before bringing Hootie to us and discused what we wanted to do with his ashes. We chose a "green" container with wild flower seeds to plant above his resting place (next to BabyRocketDog) in our dog park at home. Then they brought Hootie in...He was walking on his own and even had a jaunty step when he came in. His leg still had the port in it, but if we didn't know he was so ill, we wouldn't have been able to tell by the way he acted when he saw us. Such a dear little guy. I held him on my lap and Patrick and I told him how wounderful he was and how special and loved he was. He was enjoying his mama petting him and any nervous energy he had just melted away. He always loved that. He was a cuddlebug. When the vet came into the room she explained what she was going to do 1,2,3. She was kind and gentle and our Hootie just closed his eyes and then he was gone. We got his ashes before we left Seattle area. We still have them in our cabin, not quite ready to put him in his final resting place yet. Well, this is the end of Hootie and BabyRocketDog's blogging. But, we have our sweet girl, Jane, our rescue Airedale, so I think I'll start being a bit more active here with her. Jane has a very big voice, so she might have a few things to say. FaceBook is still an avenue we go down, but blogging was where we began, so we'll see. I am having a difficult time dealing with no Hootieboy. He really was my special little man and I think of him constantly. Patrick misses him also. As Hootie got older & Patrick retired, he grew more attached to Patrick. Patrick and both dogs would go for long walks several miles a day, usually 6 days a week. He said that Hootie was always still raring to go while Jane would get tired out. When Pat would go outside to do some work both dogs would wait by the door for his return. MamaCassie, Signing off for now