Forever A Good Boy

Augustus Octavian, "Gus," my constant companion for the last two years has gone to sleep forever. 

We've been battling the onset of dementia for several months now. Various medications and new routines were implemented to mitigate symptoms, like accidents in the house and wandering at night. Nighttime was the worst... sort of like when humans with Alzheimer's "sundown," Gus would behave strangely at night.

The latest cause for concern was him snapping at me when I tried to get him out of the garbage by grabbing his collar after vocal commands were ignored. That behavior was so atypical I called our vet to discuss it. Our concern was not for the humans in our household, but for Artie, Pixel, and Victor. Gus would never knowingly hurt one of them, but with dementia getting worse we couldn't take the risk.

So last night we had a party with steaks, bacon, gingersnaps, and sugar cookies. Today we went for a drive and got ice cream (which I sprinkled peanut butter bone cookies onto) and cheese curds.

Then the three of us went and played at the park for a bit. It was pretty apparent that Gus was in more pain than we thought. Watching him walk around the park was painful as he was quite stiff and moving very slowly.

But now he's no longer in pain, no longer confused, and no longer afraid.

And my Gussie will be a good boy forever.