We set out to explore an abandoned section of the Dry Creek Trail but the brush was too wet. So instead we opted to just hike to the ridge campsite and turn around. Sadly there was a couple at the summit. There is no published trail left where I can get solitude in the Olympics now.
We decided to go off trail and explore the ridge past the campsite. I have always wanted to check out that ridge and by going off trail we could ditch the couple at the summit.
We had lunch at the top of the ridge. During our lunch break I noticed that Sage was looking bad. I was not sure what her problem was, but she looked wiped out. We fed her some nasty fake cheese dip that Phil brought to see if it would perk her up. I'm not sure if it helped but she enjoyed eating the cheese dip anyway.
On the way back to the summit Sage was having trouble keeping up and she was out of breath. Sage is too big to carry so we walked slow and took a few extra breaks for her sake. Back on the summit I gave her an aspirin and shared a pop tart with her.
Sage did okay the rest of the way down to the car but when we got to the car she just laid down instead of begging to get in like she normally does.
Sage has a had a cough off and on for a few months, we thought maybe she caught covid, I also thought wrongly that the vet would be closed, so I was waiting for the restrictions to lift a bit so I could take her in.
The rest of the weekend I kept Sage quite while waiting for the vets to re-open the day after Memorial day. I was hoping to avoid a huge bill at an emergency vet. Tuesday morning I managed to find a normal vet to take her, but it was my last choice of the normal vets here because it is a really expensive one.
$430 later we learned that Sage is in heart failure. She has been prescribed lasix (the vet way overcharged for it) an ACE inhibitor and some expensive new med that could harm her or help her depending on exactly what is wrong with her heart. I did not buy that $150 medication.
The vet told me that Sage has six to twelve months left to live. But this is the same vet who wanted me to put Sage on an expensive and lethal heavy duty painkiller for life after looking at her hip. Sage's normal vet said that was not needed and the hip was not all that bad either.
I'm shocked, I did not see this coming at all. We thought Sage was only 8 but we got her third hand and I think she is quite a bit older than we have been led to believe.
Sage has cloudy eyes, arthritis, heart failure and she is going gray. I suspect she is closer to ten years old. Knowing that she is probably older than 8 helps to ease this blow a little. I felt so bad for her thinking she had a fatal heart disease at just 8. At 10 years old it is a little bit easier to take.
Patches was 14 when I accidentally ran her over with my car at 5MPH and killed her. My dog before that Oggie Doggie was 15 when I had him put to sleep because he could not use his back legs anymore and was in pain and was incontinent. I'm used to my dogs living for a long time. So even is Sage is 10, this is a shock. I've only had 4 years with Sage. My hiking buddy to replace Patches, she was supposed to last just as long as Patches dammit. Patches was 4 when I got her, I thought that Sage was also 4 when I got her. I expected to spend many years hiking with Sage.
The vet said that Sage can still exercise but she needs lots of breaks. So I will take her on short level hikes if we can get her to stabilize a bit. She was having 52 respirations per minute while resting we need to get that down to below 30. After almost three days on lasix Sage is down to 40 per minute.
I am going to try the same hike again tomorrow and sadly I won't be taking Sage with me. This breaks my heart. I will hide my backpack in my car tonight so Sage won't see me leaving with it. She knows that my backpack means hiking and she loves hiking more than anything.
8 miles round trip with 1,500 feet elevation gain one way. There was elevation gain on the way out too.
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