Cedar lost his battle with cancer over the weekend. Those of you that had read about him in the past know that he was a special dog.
I first wrote about Cedar a couple of years ago over on the pet blog;
Scratchings and Sniffings. In a post entitled,
The Biggest Dog in the World, I wrote about all the special accommodations our friends Mike and Ellie made to have Cedar as a part of their lives. I also wrote about his knee problems and how he had been helped with a special surgical procedure.
About a year ago Cedar developed a problem called an
elbow hygroma and we spent several posts describing the ups and downs of dealing with that. And finally, we covered
Cedar's battle with metastatic squamous cell carcinoma in several posts here on the pet insurance blog.
I wish we had written more posts about Cedar, the healthy life long companion.
We've all known special dogs. We've all had special dogs in our lives. I tend to associate certain parts of my life by remembering the dogs and cats we had at the time. I remember my German Shepherd, Fritz, as the dog that helped me through college and veterinary school. More than that, he helped me grow up from an insecure college kid to a functioning adult.
I think Cedar will be remembered like that by Ellie and Mike. Not only did they nurse Cedar through several medical and surgical procedures, Cedar returned the favor by doing the same for Mike and Ellie. Cedar was there for both of them as Mike battled a long term chronic illness of his own. Cedar was there for the bad times and Cedar has been there for the good times, as Mike's health returned.
Good dogs are like that. They truly love you in sickness and in health. And good owners are like that, too. Mike and Ellie were there for Cedar right up until there was nothing more they could do except make Cedar comfortable. And they were there when it was time to relieve his suffering.
Chris and I have been thinking about our friends a lot over the weekend. We know what they are going through and I'm sure a lot of you know, too. Send them a good thought and give your dog a good hug in memory of Cedar, a very special dog indeed.