Repost from my Spydersmom blog.
This month has felt like a rollercoaster ride where the seatbelts are broken. Frylie's cancer has progressed and although he has had some improvement in his symptoms with steroids, his overall trajectory is leading us toward making difficult end of life decisions in the not too distant future. He's still eating and drinking, and seems to enjoy his easy daily walks, but we know our time with him is finite and it breaks our hearts into pieces.
Knowing from experience that life without a dog is not an option for us and with Fry's increasing age and cancer progression, we began looking at adding another member to our family to ease the transition, and found an English Labrador puppy who checked all the boxes for what we wanted. In discussion with the breeder on January 18, she was kindly willing to keep the puppy for us until we all felt Frylie's situation was appropriate for bringing her home. I know it seems morbid to add another dog while Fry's still with us, but I truly believe he would want us to not be alone when his time comes.
As Frylie continued to have more good days than bad, we elected to pick up the puppy, whom we had decided to name Lyra after the constellation, on Saturday, January 28. We took Fry with us, and on arrival at the breeder's home, he and Lyra met and instantly bonded which was a lovely surprise. They played together gently in the yard, and were both very comfortable in the car together on the drive home.
Once home, the two immediately became inseparable and I think Fry has enjoyed showing Lyra the ropes and being the wonderful older brother to her. And Lyra has taken to Fry as her mentor and new best friend. Even our crochety deaf senior cat, Venus, seems content with the new family situation.
