Rest In Peace Miss Mac

We said farewell on Saturday, 1/23/21.

Yesterday, Mac joined Bacon on the other side of the rainbow bridge. 

She passed away peacefully at home in her giant comfy bed in front of her heating vent with the help of the amazing vets at Journeys Home. 

This all came on very quickly and took us all by surprise over the past month. She collapsed on Christmas Day, due to what at the time we believed was a heart issue. By New Years, she was hospitalized with pancreatitis, and in the past two weeks she had been having respiratory problems due to fluid in her lungs. We found out last week that all these symptoms were due to the metastasized cancer that had rapidly progressed in her spleen and lungs.

From that point we had a very difficult decision to make — how long can we keep her with us until the fluid in her lungs makes it too painful for her? Chemotherapy would have had minimal effect on this particular cancer, and she'd still likely need to have fluids drained from her lungs on a weekly basis. We decided it wasn’t right to put her through all of that, after she’d taken such good care of us all these years. 

We got to spend a very good week together. We cuddled on the couch under blanket piles. We  went on car rides — she even got to ride in the driver’s seat again, like before we knew better for safety reasons — and visited all the places around Madison that she’s known over the years. We even got to take a mini hike and walk in the woodsy park near our first apartment as a family. She sniffed the ground and air happily as we went. 

Mac was with us for almost 10 years. She was the very best dog — empathetic, adventurous and loving — and we’ll be feeling her profound absence from our lives for some time. But we are so thankful that she went out on her terms, peacefully in our home with all of us together.

Thank you to everyone who loved Mac. She had always been very social and loved every person and dog she ever met. We were lucky that we got to be her family.