[June 8 Thursday] Today it continued to rain. My master put the rain coat on me and parked his car in front of Outback Steakhouse at Edgewater Common. From here, I walked about half an hour on Hudson River Walkway. After the walk, as my mistress was shopping at Mitsuwa, my master and I walked on the walkway behind it. For lunch, they went to Kyugyo Chinese restaurant and left on the back sheet a bowl of thin-cut calf liver. I did not touch it while they were taking their lunch. My master took out a lunch box full of thin beef slices from a Chinese dish but I had no appetite for it either. At home, there was a call to my master and I knew that he was talking somewhat seriously about me. (My master’s comment: Dr. DeSantis suggested on the phone that I should consider taking Coty to sleep in the evening, as he would be off until next Monday. I asked him to let me think about it for a while.) As I had not touched anything today until that time, I immediately ran to the kitchen room and ate all the calf liver in the bowl as well as Chinese beef in the lunch box. (My master’s comment: I phoned Dr. DeSantis and told him that, as if Coty overheard our conversation, he ate all we had given him.) For dinner, I ate a bowl of thin sliced beef my mistress cooked for me. [June 9 Friday] It was quite unusual this morning. My master and mistress began taking bath very early in the morning and dressed up for going out. I was surprised and followed every step of my master. My master moved the smaller car out of the garage and let me sit in its back sheet. However, he did not get on this car as usual but my mistress drove the car alone. During the drive, I kept on scratching my right face as I felt some pain there. When we arrived at our destination, my master came to us, backed up the car to a parking lot and went away. (My master's comment: For a regular maintenance of my car, we drove our two cars to Lexus service.) My mistress let me out of the car but I could not walk on the lawn and stood still. My master came back and he drove the car to a near-by big shopping center. As my mistress went into a shop, my master parked the car in the shade with the lawn behind it and tried to let me walk on it. But I could not see well and remained standing. He gave up, put me back in the car and listened to his favorite classic music until my mistress came back. He drove back to the same place where we first went. As my mistress put me out of the car, I eagerly looked for my master who had been gone. We came home without him, but I was relieved to meet my master at the front door after a while. As they started taking lunch, I went to them and sniffed three bowls, each with thin sliced beef, boiled chicken and Italian sausage in it but I had no appetite for either of them. I begged them for what they are eating but could not eat any. After their lunch, I went to bed with my mistress and slept for a while. After my sleep, I woke up and went out to the front yard. Instead of putting me on the usual long leash, he stayed right with me in the garden. I did not lie down on the lawn but remained standing while trying to breathe hard. My mistress joined with him after a while and they stayed for a long time with me in the front yard, until their daughter came back from her work. As I am in severe pain, I would let my master continue my blog for this point.
[Description of Coty’s last day] When we woke up this morning, I realized that Coty’s face changed. His right eye was swollen and became smaller than yesterday. It was really a sudden change. Yesterday, he ate a lot and walked a lot. Today, he just stood still and would not walk or eat. In the afternoon, he took a nap with my wife in the bed and when he woke up, he went out to the front yard and stood on the lawn gazing forwards and panting with his mouse open. It was clear to me that he was under severe pain. I and my wife stayed with him in the front yard until my daughter came back. My daughter thought that Coty in this condition should not be exposed to the public street. So she took him to the backyard. Coty stumbled on his hind legs and she had to help him walk. We brought him to the emergency service of Oradell hospital in Paramus. As we all waited in the consulting room, a kind lady doctor entered the room holding the history of Coty's treatments. (Unfortunately, Dr. DeSantis who took very good care of Coty was on vacation.) She was so nice, asked about what had happened today and carefully examined Coty. According to her, his breathing and heart beat was somewhat unusual and he was a little dehydrated. I asked whether it would be possible to prolong his life with the dosage of steroid pain reliever and she replied that it would be 2 more days at best and it might not work. She left the room to give us the time to discuss among ourselves. My daughter started to cry and said that she could not stand any more, if Coty should continue to suffer from severe pain after taking him home again. We agreed that it would be time for Coty and told the doctor about our decision. The doctor took Coty away for a preparation. As Coty had tried many times to walk out of the room to go home until then, he could follow the doctor and came back by walking normally, instead of crumbling when we had arrived at the hospital. We found that a long tube was tied with the band to his right hind leg. The doctor left the room again to give us more time with Coty. We all petted him with smiles. The doctor came back and asked us to lay him down on the blanket, which we did. As we all embraced him gently, the doctor gave two shots through the tube. The moment later, Coty ended his 14.5 years of life. As he was lying with his tumor side down, he looked as if he were sleeping so peacefully without any sign of pain on his face.