Luna was L's dog from before - she had her since she was a puppy. She had Luna when we met. At that time, Luna was 3 or 4, and she was terrified of going outside. She would bolt for the door, or run off, or do all kinds of weird things when taken outside. I wasn't about to let Luna use the wee-wee pads when visiting my house, so i made it my mission to make her into more of a dog, so that she could go outside without needing to be carried and without too much anxiety. Luna wound up on some anti-anxiety meds, and she was greatly helped out when we got an apartment with a backyard. Even with the small, private yard, it took time for her to go out there - there's a picture of Leo and Bit in the yard, and Luna in the doorway peering out. Eventually, she started going out in the yard on her own, sitting out there, and actually enjoying outdoors.
We moved away from that apartment and into a condo that no longer had a backyard - but it did have a balcony. Again, Leo and Bit took to the balcony, and Luna followed along later. By now, she was nearing 9 or 10, and she could go out and go for walks around the block without being absolutely terrified. She wasn't entirely comfortable, and loud noises and busy streets gave her anxiety, but she was able to do some dog stuff - but she never really went on long walks (distance-wise - it could sometimes take a lot longer than you'd think to make it around the block when the dog is interested in sniffing everything and scared of nearly everything).
Over time, Luna became a dog - like a real, enjoy-the-outside-world-and-sniff-around dog - when we got outside the city and into the country. We went on a few hikes, occasionally went to the park (especially late at night, when it was quiet and the walk there was devoid of anything scary), and Luna went with L to work (she works in the pet industry, so having a dog in the store is totally fine). Luna was a great store dog - she greeted everyone, was good with other dogs, and could be enough of a deterrent (big black dog syndrome). She was easy to have in the store because she wasn't food aggressive - in fact, one of Luna's little quirks was her lack of an appetite. Getting her to eat was a life-long challenge, and she would often eat something for a few meals in a row, then suddenly stop. This included wet food, dry food, freeze-dried, home-made, people-food, you name it. Luna was picky - which was good, since she didn't do a lot of walking, her diet helped to keep her very fit.
One of the best Luna stories from this time was when we went camping up in the Willoemoc Wild Forest in the Catskills. It's a campground that Leo and I frequent, but we all went - me, L, Luna and Leo. We hiked and had a little camp set up near the stream. It was later in the season, so it got a bit chilly at night - down into the low 50's or high 40's. Luna was exhausted from the hike (she didn't have a lot of practice walking 6 or 7 miles) and was also wet (because who doesn't like playing in the water). When she went to sleep at the foot of the mattress in the tent, she seemed fine. Around 11pm, I noticed that she was still down at the foot of the bed and checked on her - I think I heard her teeth chattering. Poor Luna was shivering badly, and was cold. I pulled her up from the foot of the bed and put her under the covers with me, and effectively laid right on her to warm her up. Now, she wasn't much of a cuddler and this sort of thing usually wouldn't fly. But at 6am, she was still snuggled up between us where it was nice and warm. We jokingly called it the time we tried to kill her. Leo, by the way, spent that night sleeping at the foot of the mattress in the tend, no covers, totally fine. But he loves eating, so there's a little bit of extra that keeps him warm.
When L and I split, we shared custody of the dogs - Leo and Luna included. They would come over on the weekends, and we went all over the place - Prospect Park, Fahnestock, and the various parks between our houses. When I moved to Bushwick, it was convenient because the pet store where L works was in the building I lived in. They walked to work, I got Leo, and Luna went to work. In fact, for the past year, Luna probably spent more time at work than just about anywhere else. She loved going to the store - she'd get so excited, jumping and whining when L would get ready for work. On the days when she didn't go in the morning, I would sometimes retrieve her from L's house and bring her over to the store, and the excitement was palpable. She loved the store - partly for hanging out with her mommy, partly for greeting the folks, and partly to play with the kitties.
See, Luna love kitties - she LOVED Bit, and for all her love she often got a bloody nose from a vicious paw swipe. When Bit died, she looked for him. When L got a cat (and then another), Luna played with them all the time. Even at 14, when her hips began to fail her, she always had energy to play with the cats - jumping on the bed and scooting around to get the cats, who were under the bed and popping up on both sides.
As Luna got older, she slowed down a bit, and her hips started to get weaker. It started out with her losing muscle mass, and proceeded to actually getting wobbly and stiff on her feet (especially rear feet). Again, it didn't stop her all that much - stairs were tough, but she still played and still had energy.
The first sign that things weren't right (aside from hip issues) was in September, when she had an episode after climbing 4 flights of stairs. She collapsed for a second, and it took her a little while to come to. She had a few more of these episodes, and her hips got slowly worse over the course of the next 2 months. She became noticeably stiffer, and a little more dingy than usual. Toward the end of November, she started to really show signs of aging - she was unsteady, looked lost, and was doing a lot of pacing. After her episode, we noticed a tremor - almost like little seizures. The vet, by now, had suggested that she may well have a frontal lobe tumor. However, in a 14 year old dog, there's not much to be done aside from treat the symptoms unless you're going to get aggressive with treatment (chemo, radiation) - and we weren't going to put her through that. She wasn't Leo - not in the sense of favorites, but in the sense of what they can tolerate without being unduly stressed. Leo can take pokes and prods and all that - Luna could not. So, we treated the symptoms. Luna rallied in December - from Mid-December until Mid-January, she was fantastic! She was happy, playing with the cats, and running around. It seemed that whatever the drugs she was on were doing (tramadol, mostly) was helping, and her tumor (if there was) wasn't growing. She still had little tremors (very slight) and paced, but nothing too bad. Last weekend, Luna came over and was pacing, uneasy, and hard to settle down. She slipped on the stairs, and I carried her in and out of the house (1 flight). L noted that she had been pacing all night if she wasn't exhausted from being at the store, and sometimes at the store she was sleeping so soundly that people thought she might be unconscious.
Things changed dramatically beginning on Tuesday. She began having seizures - or episodes - where she collapsed and would then be limp, taking longer and longer to recover. On Friday, she stayed at my house so I could watch her. When we were going back to L's, Luna did not want to get out of bed. I finally got her up, but by the time we got to the store in the car she was limp and dazed. We held her for a while, and then went to L's house. The vet on call suggested an emergency trip to VERG - but that was pointless unless we were going to have her put down, since there was little they could do. After 2 hours, she rallied, staggered to her feet, and started pacing the house. Yesterday, I sat with her while L was working, and then the vet came by for a check up. They gave her some meds to reduce intracranial pressure, and we tried to give her some palliative care - perhaps we could give her a few more good days.
Unfortunately, that was not to be. Luna declined overnight. L held her all night, and called me at 7AM Sunday. She was upset, but she was also certain that it was time. I got ready, and took Leo out for the quickest morning walk in history. By 8:30 we were in the car on the way to VERG - but this wasn't for a miracle. It was for mercy. Luna could no longer stand, and didn't really try - although she was very happy to see me walk in (as she always was - her antics were legendary). We spoke with a vet we trust at VERG, as well as another vet, and all agreed that the best thing to do was to put an end to her suffering.
At 9:30 on Sunday morning, while being held in L's arms, Luna left us. She was a nut. She was crazy. She was friendly. She was simple, and innocent. She was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she was my girl, my Luna. She was always happy to see me, happy to meet visitors, a joy to be around, and a total character. L is upset, and I'm heartbroken. She was my girl, and now she's gone.
Good-bye, Luna. I will miss you.
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