An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
October 3rd, 2025
Update on Louie and One Interesting ID Fact
First, I want to express my sincere thanks to all those who commented, emailed, and texted about our dog Louie. My family and I truly appreciate the concern and the feelings people shared about their own dogs.
And how about these selected bits of wisdom, posted by Dr. Gordon Huth?
“Dogs’ lives are too short. Their only fault, really.”—Agnes Turnbull
“The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog.”―M.K. Clinton
“Fall in love with a dog, and in many ways you enter a new orbit, a universe that features not just new colors but new rituals, new rules, a new way of experiencing attachment.” ―Caroline Knapp
“The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love are dogs and infants.”―Johnny Depp
“A dog has one aim in life … to bestow his heart.”―J.R. Ackerley
“Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them, and filling an emptiness we didn’t ever know we had.”―Thom Jones
Now, for the update and the background for why I wrote such an alarming post.
After a very difficult morning walk last week, I took him urgently to the excellent, local animal hospital, Angell Memorial. Well, it was hardly a walk ― he could barely get over the curb, and I had to carry him home. Scary.
The kind veterinarian admitted him overnight, they did an ultrasound and cardiac ECHO, and the next day discharged him home with a terrible diagnosis: a suspected hemangiosarcoma, leading to a pericardial effusion and ascites, along with likely metastases in the lungs. Here ― take a look (highlighted some of the low points):
The discharge paperwork was quite clear that they did not expect him to live much longer; they also verbally advised us to arrange for home euthanasia within a week. Through sadness and tears, we scheduled it, and I shared the information on this blog because, as I wrote, it was therapeutic.
This has been such a wonderful community all these years, and it didn’t disappoint! Wow, I even heard from non-dog people ― including my mother and my first editor on this site, Mimi Breed. We know you don’t get the dog thing, but we appreciate the sympathy nonetheless.
But guess what? Louie didn’t understand the discharge instructions. Hey, he’s not so great with fancy medical terminology. Plus, he can’t read. So after the anesthesia from his procedures wore off, he’s pretty much back to his baseline self ― a little less perky, perhaps, but still happy to see us, still eating, still wagging his tail. That’s a new picture of him up there at the top, after he scooted up the stairs. No more of those scary walks, at least not yet.
Look, we’re not in denial ― at least not completely. We’re medical people, after all. The professionals clearly gave him a grim prognosis, and we accept that; he won’t be with us for long. But to quote my wise colleague, social worker extraordinaire Susan Larrabee, you know your dog’s time has come when “your dog can no longer do dog things.” Louie can still do dog things. And that’s good enough for us. Euthanasia on hold, at least for now.
And since this is an ID blog, here’s a closing fact: we literally carry pieces of our dogs with us. Studies show that people and their dogs exchange microbes through shared living space and touch, and that the dog gut microbiome is astonishingly similar to our own ― it’s much closer to humans than to pigs or mice. The study used a microbiome gene catalog containing 1,247,405 genes, which sounds like plenty to me.
So when someone says that a dog becomes part of the family, it’s not just sentiment ― it’s science.
(h/t to Paul E Terrill for sharing this song.)
Paul E. Sax, MD
Contributing Editor
NEJM Journal Watch
Infectious Diseases
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