Max was a loving, amusing and loyal Irish Red Setter. From a
pup, he demonstrated a gentle nature and although he grew very large, this continued. He was even wary of the hamster and
Bruce the cat was certainly dominant! Max was misdiagnosed and mistreated for arthritis for three years. It got to the stage
where he could barely support his own weight so I took him to see an orthopaedic specialist, who confirmed that the problem
was muscle wastage. Further tests revealed that Max was suffering from insulinoma, a pancreatic cancer, which caused him to
be unable to absorb blood sugars - hence the muscle wastage. By this stage, Max could barely stand, so inaction was not an
option and we consented to an operation to try to remove the tumour. Half way through the operation, I had a call from the
surgeon to say that the tumour was massive and had spread to the liver and other organs. Euthanasia was the only option. We
drove to the vets and watched and cried as Max's life ebbed away.
It was a great privilege to have owned this gentle giant, and
I wanted to ensure that the images of the times the family spent with Max never disappeared from our consciousness. I came
up with a DVD with a photo collage cover containing a video of all the happy times we had spent with Max. I still expect
him to be around and swear I hear his bark, or the sound of his footsteps on the stairs, sometimes, and that empty feeling
continues. The DVD has provided much comfort in the darkest hours, and I wondered if the idea could be of use to others feeling
the pain of pet bereavement.
Each slideshow comes with a label decorated with a
photo-collage of your beloved pet.
