Sad sad day

So yesterday ended up as one of our saddest ever as we had to say goodbye to our most beloved Kodak. He had been slowing down over the past few weeks, right after his 11th birthday. We had a great day Sunday out raking leaves, playing with the neighbor kids and he ate the best he had in the past 2 weeks. I was going to call the vet Monday anyways to take a look at him as he had been drinking more and was dragging his back legs. We have been watching him get weaker in the back due to his spine fussing. Well, yesterday morning he literally dragged himself downstairs for me, I am not sure how he did it, but he kept enough control not to knock me down. He went outside and peed what looked like iodine, then refused to move off the couch. I knew things looked pretty bad. He was breathing heavy and coughing up phlegm. John came home, half carried him to the car and we went to the vet. We took Ally and Milo in case this was their chance to say goodbye. Our vet said there was a lot of wet sounds in his chest, so much it was hard to hear Kodak’s heart. His temp was 106! So, left and right he was doing really bad. We were looking at kidney failure, possible heart failure and a raging temperature that would involve hospitalization. Our vet said we could do a bunch of diagnostics, but it looked like the only proper thing, even after diagnostics was to say goodbye.
We decided it was best to let him go and not let him suffer. I wanted him to go out having had a fairly good day the day before, not forcing him to hang on for us. He was not very aware of things, so we loved on him and said goodbye. Overall he had not been sick long, he just went down very quickly. We miss him so bad it hurts. He was my best friend with all the moving we have done and he was always there for me. He was John's guy and John felt better with him keeping an eye on things. We had a special bond and I will miss him every day. I wish he had been around long enough to met our baby, he loved babies. We had him for about 8 1/2 years, not long enough. He was wonderful and he is greatly greatly missed.