He didn’t even make it through the second summer of his tragically short life. We lost our blind Great Dane Claude today to his Wobbler’s Syndrome. When the end came, it came fast.
Back on July 4th, I posted an update on Claude and said he was still going strong. We were managing his neurological disease medically, and he was showing few signs of his Wobblers. But a week after I posted that, he began wobbling again … first a little, then a lot. After consulting with our veterinarians, we increased his dosage on the medication. It helped a bit, for a while. Yet he increasingly had difficulty getting up and down, and he would fish-tail occasionally when walking. His face became puffy, his hair coarse and his skin dry. He developed sores on his legs. These were all consequences of the prednisone therapy. He started looking like he just didn’t feel well.
Then, two days ago, he went down and couldn’t get up. When we helped him up, he’d walk a short ways and then start sinking to the ground. And although he continued to eat, his breathing began sounding labored. He looked unhappy. The spark was gone. We could just look at his face and see it. We knew the time had come.
At noon today Alayne and I placed a soft fleece blanket on the stretcher, lifted Claude onto it, and carried him out to the truck. I took the photo of Claude just before Alayne drove him to our vet clinic in Helena, Montana Veterinary Specialists. There our primary care vet, Dr. Brenda Culver, brought his young life to a gentle, dignified and peaceful end. He was barely 15 months old.
Goodbye, Claude. We love you.
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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