Bentley was a 2 year old, and a nice size at 14 1/2 pounds; a handsome, young, neutered boy ~ cream colored with a few black hairs on ear tips.
He was being treated for a mild cough, which was originally thought to be the result of food allergies. This soon became a more complicated vet study and Bentley underwent extensive testing and scoping as his cough worsened and he was rapidly loosing weight.
Bentley had "dry eye" and needed eye treatments 4 times a day to prevent early blindness. At one point it was even thought he was having a reaction to those medications.
Today Bentley's condition rapidly deteriorated. He'd lost control of his bladder and bowels sometime over night (soiled his bed) and that continued throughout the morning. He could barely weight bear and even walking was difficult. His loving foster mom tried to cheer him up with steak (cooked medium rare) but he couldnt hold it down and his swallow reflex was erratic. He also began (again) to regurge everything he ate. The vet was called with the new symptoms and she suggested that Bentley be brought in for observation. I washed his precious little face, eyes and muzzle with baby shampoo and spritzed him with "silk" before we left. He had a bit more of his favorite food which he spit up in the car. At the vet's office he stayed swaddled in a cozy blanket on my lap while we waited and he fell asleep intermittently between coughs. The vet looked at his condition and felt confident that with these new symptoms the problem was neurological and that his condition had clearly deteriorated . With great compassion she suggested it was probably time to let him go. She complimented HRI on their committment to Bentley and she too was upset that we just couldn't seem to find that "magic pill" to help Bentley.
