Mr. Maximus

Sean and I just had to make the most heart-wrenching decision; one that no pet owner ever wants to have to encounter. We had to put Maximus to sleep last night. It was absolutely awful, and I wish our experience on no one. Max got really sick in the night Friday, then vomited and was acting really strange Saturday. We thought he just had some bug... But Sunday it became obvious to me that something was really wrong. Sean was gone at school, so I loaded up my two sick boys and poor Max and we spent 4 hours at the Animal Emergency Hospital. After several x-rays, they found that either Max ate something and it was obstructing his intestines, or his colon had flipped (which, apparently, is fairly common in large dogs). Our options weren't good; put him through an expensive surgery (with unknown chance of survival) or put him to sleep. Unable to talk to Sean, I asked them to admit him and give him pain meds and fluids until we could talk and make a decision. Knowing that the colon flipping would lessen his chance at survival post-op AND the fact Max has never eaten anything he's not supposed to (along with many other factors: age, bad hips, etc.) we knew what we had to do. After Sean got home from his school, we all loaded up and made our way back to say goodbye to Max.

Maximus was a great dog! I can't imagine the pain he was in the last day, but he always managed to wag his tail a few times and never got mean. He lived to be about 6 1/2 years old, which is about average for a Mastiff. We already miss him dearly, but take comfort in knowing that he's no longer in pain- and probably is already enjoying the all-you-can-eat pig ear buffet. Cullen is still trying to figure all this out, but at least he's a little too young to miss Max as much as we do.

One of my favorite memories with Max, is when Sean and I took him to watch the fireworks while we were living in Upstate NY. (I know, I know, what were we thinking!?!) It literally scared the sh!t out of him!! Sean had to hold him down with all his might and after the show was FINALLY over, we were leaving and kept hearing people say- I think I stepped in dog sh!t...

With that, we miss ya buddy. You were a good dog and brought us much happiness over the years. Enjoy those pig ears...