The next day after the “fawn incident of 2026” was not good. Fourth of July, we were heading up to Peacham to go to the holiday festivities up there and then to the cabin for Meg’s birthday celebration. Amazingly, I had woken myself up early so we could get to Peacham on time…but about 7:20, just as I was getting out of bed, I heard Dee screaming in the back yard.
Louisa was standing in the yard just staring at us, unable to move even when called. She wagged her tail when I called but couldn’t get the energy up to move. It reminded me of Mia on her last day. I went in and called the vet, figuring we’d have to go to SAVES…but Dr. Pinello was there and willing to see her at 8:15. So we loaded her up (after a leash walk where she peed again) and got her down to Norwich. Louisa was mewling the whole trip, very unusual and indicating she was in a lot of pain. I took her around the property on the leash as I always do to let her settle…and as usual she just wanted to get back in the car. 🙂
It took Dr. Pinello (who remembered us and Cloud after 40 years!) no more than 3 minutes to determine that Louisa was terribly bloated and it was probably due to a twisted stomach/intestine. She said if it was that, the surgery would have to be immediate and that it was no better than 50% that Louisa even survive it; then the recovery would be long, full of antibiotics, all the stuff Dee went through. Dee always expects the worst, I never do, but it hit me at that point.
We took her in for an X-ray, she walked along like a good girl on her leash for me. Our last walk was very short, no more than 30 feet. The X-ray confirmed the worst, it was even more of a problem than we realized. Louisa was very tough, we weren’t getting enough signals; but even had we found it early it would not have made a difference. When we put her on the table, no shaking, no worry, just glad we were there. The euthanizing went really fast, no more than 10 seconds. A week later I’m still a bit in shock. I miss our “last dog.”
Tom's Walks 