Kai left us on Friday, October 24. He was a couple of months over 12 years old.

He was creaky with arthritis this past year, but always happy, and even playful at times. He enjoyed roaming our five acres here in the country with the other dogs, but mostly he slept in a corner of the kitchen where he could keep in touch with everyone.

He started to decline quite suddenly and rapidly early last week, and on Thursday morning he walked about 20 yards down the hill and lay down. He refused food and couldn’t keep water down after drinking, and he didn’t move under his own power again.

On Friday morning we took him to the vet and comforted him while he was put to rest.

I suspect his cancer had come back, but we don’t really know. He’d had a clean checkup at UC Davis in the spring and was due for another one. But it was clear any major intervention at this point would just be painful for him and for us, so we let him go peacefully.