Story told by Sharon W.

Jack came to live with me after being found wandering the streets and his owner could not be found. We bonded very quickly and he was my best friend in no time. As soon as he arrived I took him straight to the vet to make sure he was healthy and to have him vaccinated as we didn't know his medical history. The vet informed me that he was about 18 months to 2 yrs old.

We had a great life together then in December of 2006 Jack was lying on the floor in front of me and he began to fit. I rang the vet and once the fit had passed I took him straight down. The vet informed me that he may have been diabetic and tested his blood sugar. It came back that he wasn't diabetic and at that stage they said that he may have been epileptic but they didn't want to jump the gun and put him on medication and that I was to watch him.

Over the next couple of months Jack did not fit again until midnight toward the end of March. Again Ii took him straight to the vet. The vet again had no explanation for the fit. My partner and myself explained to the vet that his stomach seemed to be enlarged. 5 times over the next 2 days we asked to have his stomach x-rayed with the answer from the vet being we don't want to waste your money we believe he may have a brain tumor. We told the vet that money was not an object please just do it. They refused and referred us to Brisbane to the veterinary science hospital for a CT Scan. We called the hospital but they could not see him for 4 days. This we were not happy with and decided to take him to another vet and get a second opinion. Within 5 minutes of telling the new vet that we believed he had something in his stomach and describing what had been happening he examined Jack and agreed there was a mass in his stomach.

We then requested the x-ray to be done. Through all this Jack was so sick yet so brave. Within 30 minutes we had the x-ray results and there was a mass the size of a football in his stomach. That day Jack was operated on to remove the tumor. Our vet informed us that they were sending it to pathology to have a biopsy done. 3 days later the diagnosis was back and the vet asked to see us.

We arrived at the surgery and the first thing the girl behind the desk said was I am so sorry. I was shattered but still did not know what was going on. We were called into the vets office and told that Jack had Malignant Histiocytosis (MH) and he was terminally ill.

We returned home absolutely in a state of shock and disbelief as we were told that this was rare but even rarer in a Blue Cattle Dog. He also believed that the history of seizures suggested that the tumors had advanced into his brain. We decided that if Jacks quality of life was lessened in anyway we would have to let him go. A week later Jack was no better and we made the decision to say goodbye. Monday 14th April at 9am Jack passed away.

We had made arrangements to have Jack cremated as soon as we found out he was terminally ill. He has returned home to us and we have a great memorial. He is greatly missed on a daily basis. I am so grateful for the 6 yrs that I had Jack in my life he was my best friend and I know that I let him go with the dignity he deserved.

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