Affaire's For Your Eyes Only, "Sara"

Sara passed from congestive heart failure. Her last echo was on September 1, 2012. The echo did not show signs of DCM, but she did have moderate degenerative mitral valve disease. It had been evident on an echo done a year prior (Sept 2011) and had progressed to the point where the heart was showing changes due to the regurgitation of the valve.

She was seen by a vet on May 7, 2013. Sara was retaining fluid in her chest and abdomen and was very weak. She was put on lasix and pimobendan and responded after the first dose. I was monitoring her progress on the meds and she showed continued improvement daily. Early in the morning of Saturday, May 6, I thought she was a little tired, but later in the day she seemed to perk up. She had a good dinner that night and passed at 1am while sleeping at the foot of my bed.

Sara lived a very healthy life up until recently. I can't remember her ever being sick. She had a cyst on her tail that got infected and was removed when she was about a year old. On the recheck appt after the surgery, the vet wrapped the bandage on her tail too tight and within hours, the tail had "died" and had to be docked. She did have to have a foxtail removed once, but never had any sort of illness or disease until her mitral valve started to fail.

Sara was a great dog. One in a million. She was very intuitive and had a wonderful spirit about her. Always happy and mischevious. I see some of her personality traits in her children and grandchildren. I was very lucky to have such a wonderful girl and for as many years as she lived. This is one of my favorite pictures of her. The expression captures her essence perfectly. She is the last of her litter - and a great litter of Danes it was.