Goodbye to my best friend.

Mini was my dog for about 9 years. She was always sweet and playful, but lazy when you wanted to be lazy. She would cuddle up next to you or lay on your feet. She was my little shadow.

August of 2025 she was diagnosed with a low grade mast cell tumor. We had two surgeries and a long recovery for her. We were optimistic...until we noticed another mass growing on the inner thigh where she had her original tumor.

Many very visits later, an infection in that leg and a lot of struggling we were told that unless we wanted to do another surgery with a specialist that included skin grafts and a long healing process we couldn't do much about it. Considering she had that mass grow nearly three weeks after her initial surgery we didn't want to put her through that, so we opted to handle symptoms at home and just keep her happy and as healthy as we could.

Last Sunday we noticed that her mass had begun to bleed a bit. We didn't really panic at the start. The vet had already warned us that the mass was basically growing and her skin was scabbing, healing and then rescabbing to account for the tumor just growing.

Early afternoon we noticed that the bleed wasn't stopping. We called as many emergency vets as we could for opinions. We realized we wouldn't have any choice. So with what little time we had we called family over to spend time with her. Lots of attention, treats and people food she wouldn't typically get. She enjoyed chicken tenders, popcorn, cheese from a can, peanut butter and once we got to the vet she was able to taste chocolate for the first time.

My heart aches from wishing we had more time. And I think I'll always feel guilt for not doing anymore surgeries. But with the placement of the tumor I just couldn't imagine the pain or the healing process she would have had to go through.

I can only find peace in knowing we had enough time to spoil her a bit before she left us. I'll miss my girl ❤️