Belle had a cancerous tumor on her spleen. By the time of her death, it had spread to her liver, and this showed in her blood work, but in blood tests only a year earlier, she was fine. The tumor may have been there, though. I always had her checked over, and her blood tested every year, but it had been almost exactly a year since. Though I now know she'd shown some signs of this disease, they were mild, intermittent, and attributed to her aging.

I also never even thought about potentially getting her yearly X-rays, or some other imaging if available. If I'd known, if we'd caught it, and removed it, she might have had years more. She was...active. Energetic. Had a good appetite, and a happy disposition. She enjoyed her last meal, had her favorite treat, and we went to bed.

In the evening of June 12th, 2016, the tumor ruptured, and despite my seeing her distress, and getting her to an animal emergency room, Belle died of internal blood loss before they could even get her ready for anesthesia and surgery. She just...slipped away. Even if she had gone into surgery, and survived, she would not have had much time left, since it had already spread to her liver.

It's easy to say that maybe nothing could have caught it ahead of time. That maybe this was the best possible outcome. But maybe not. As with cancer in humans, early detection is key.

I can't change what's happened, but now I know.