I know many of you love Louis as much as we do, and I didn’t want to spring awful news on you. I just needed a few days to let it sink in.
Louis has cancer that has metastasized, he is on palliative care, and we are just trying to make his last bit of time with us as comfortable and filled with love as possible.
He had terrible breath, and we scheduled a cleaning. It was a few weeks out, but his breath was getting worse. Michael looked in his mouth to see if he had a piece of food caught or something. It was terrible; 2 teeth were just rotted and barely hanging on. The vet was able to get him in the day after we called with the update instead. He had the two teeth extracted, but what she saw gave her cause for concern and suggested we do a bone biopsy to rule out cancer. He has white spots on his gums, he’d lost 1.1lb since December, and the fact that two of his teeth rotted out in such a short time gave her pause.
We were cautiously hopeful that it was just a one-off dental issue and the weight loss was from the toothache. It wasn’t to be. We got the call on Tuesday that the results were back. He has adenocarcinoma of the salivary glands, spreading to his squamous cells. There isn’t anything we can do for him that would make a difference in his quality of life or the time we have left with him.
Right now, he is a little slower but doing his usual stuff. He still hogs my pillow at night; he eats well and doesn’t appear to be in any pain. We are playing it by ear – but the vet told us we only have weeks to a few months left with him.
When we brought him home 5 years ago, he was approximately 11 years old. At his first vet visit, we found out that someone had shot him at least twice with a BB gun (they were still lodged under his skin). There is no telling how his life started – but I know for the last 5 years, he has been spoiled, loved, and living his best life.
He’s made us so happy just being here that it is hard to imagine life without him. For now, we are just taking it day by day. Reveling in every snuggle we get.
Love y’all