Charlotte's Peace: Ebony Matzke 1/31/2004 to 10/16/2012

Our Baby Ebony

We will miss her cocking her head when we talked to her

Here is the breakdown on Ebony. We took her to see Dr.Tebbe last Wednesday, they did blood-work and an x-ray which showed something in her belly, plus blood. When diagnosing a pet they always start with the simplest diagnosis to treat (since to find the actual diagnosis would have required and MRI and Ultrasound...Which we could not afford.) So she got fluids and was being hand fed. He put an IV in and we monitored the drip over night at home.

My request of Ebony was that she please not die before Sarah's testing, and she didn't. She rallied while Sarah was here, still having to be hand fed, but she was drinking water, having bowel movements and sticking to Sarah like glue. She loved Sarah so much, they really had a very special bond. Then as soon as Sarah left here Sunday, Ebony jumped up on the couch and slept the rest of the day. Only getting p to go outside and drink water, then back on the couch she went. She wouldn't eat from the spoon as she had so I had to put the food in her cheek. She only ate a little bit.

Love you Baby Girl

Yesterday morning she was very listless and I fed her like one would a baby, and felt like some of my hospice patients families who try all they can to get food into their loved one. I held her all morning, and she had an episode which was like a seizure of some sorts. She held her head back, body stiffened and she made a howling sound. It was just like when Foxy died, so I thought she was leaving then, but she didn't.

Inky is saying good-bye

I called and could get into see the Vet at 4pm yesterday afternoon. I had to carry her everywhere by this point, and she was extremely dehydrated again. Inky spent about an hour laying beside Ebony and licking her...she only knows Ebony as "Mommy".

Dr. Fernandez was there and he looked again at her x-rays and blood work. He felt her belly, which seemed to be growing day by day. He said that he believed that she had cancer of some form, maybe liver, since she was so anemic and he asked how her eating habits were for the past months. I explained how for about the past 6 months to a year she has been an extra finicky eater, we had to play all kinds of games to get her to eat, then she would refuse to eat altogether for a few days. Then she would be fine and eat OK. He explained that animals who have cancer act that way. They eat when they are having a good day, don't when they aren't....he even said "Just like people on hospice have good days and bad days, this is what you have been seeing with Ebony."

An evening spent loving Ebony

So She got more fluids and a shot for pain. I brought her home and Marty got off work to come home. We gave her pain meds and she was very lethargic. She would take some water with a dropper, and during the night she actually drank water from a small bowl we had at bedside. We spent all our time with her, waking in the night to let her drink, and Marty took her outside to pee.

Last sleeping time with our beautiful Ebony

We made an appointment for 10:30 for her to be euthanized. The hard part was that because of the fluids she had rallied and was acting like her old self, except that she would not eat, even er favorite cheese or yogurt. She gave us kisses and was very present with us. It was such a very hard decision to make, but we took her to her appointment, and Dr. Tebbe was there, with his wonderful wife and Vet tech. He explained to us the whole procedure of how they start with the simplest thing they can think to treat, and if that doesn't work, then they go to step two, then step three, and so on. He said that she had indeed rallied with the liquids on board, but it was temporary. He went back to look again at the x-rays and did a physical exam of her abdomen and rib cage. I even had noticed that her girth in her rib cage area had been growing in the past days, which meant that the tumor was growing. He suspected that it was more than likely pancreatic cancer, which can present with all the symptoms she had. Her belly was very hard and even the area behind her skull was depressed and showed classic signs of being even more dehydrated.

After talking with them, we made the decision to euthanize her, so she would not be in any more pain, and even though we were wondering why she rallied on the day we were to say good-bye, I truly believe it as her way of telling us good-bye. She gave us one last glimpse of the absolutely beautiful dog she was, she gave us good bye kisses and as we both held her she took her last breath.

We are grateful for High Country Pet Clinic, their staff are so caring and supportive. Thank you To all of you who walked this journey with us. http://highcountrypetclinic.com/

We are filled with a great sadness, as anyone is when they loose a loved one "too quickly". But I am thankful that she left here allowing us to have in our mind's eye the image of her alive, barking at the doorbell, looking for birds....instead of our last thought of her as being lifeless and sick.

She gave me kisses just this morning

"None to nose, Ebony do you know how much your Momma loves you? Forever and always...kisses and hugs. I have told this to her since she was just a little puppy, and every time she would lick my nose."

Miss Ebony Debebony, we will always miss you

Here are some photos of when we first adopted her on March 20, 2004