Murphy's Story

"Welcome to Narnia ... the land between the lamp-post and the castle of Cair Paravel on the eastern sea, where animals talk, where magical things happen and where the adventure begins." *

Murphy heads out into Narnia...

In the hot summer of 2010 Carole and Mike noticed that Murphy was panting excessively and seemed to be suffering from the heat. Sadly, it turned out to be a little more serious than that when he was diagnosed with cancer (lymphoma).

Murphy pauses and views this new land.

Carole and Mike sought a second opinion and then, on July 14th, they started Murphy on a course of chemo. They knew they could not cure Murphy but, as he was such a young dog, they wanted to buy him some quality time. As Carole explained in July, "He will never beat cancer as the chemo dose they give to dogs is so low but, because it is low, dogs don’t get the nasty side effects".

Since July, Murphy has had some wonderful times and the extra few months that the chemo gave him were a Godsend to all.

Murph jumps for joy...

and then makes a snow angel.

Murphy takes the lead.

Most on the WAGS dog walks know that Murphy has a very close bond with his best mate Alfie who lives locally with Jackie and Steve. Murph and Alf kept us all amused with their antics.

Alfie takes Murphy for a walk.

Murphy is behind the splash while Alfie looks on.

A frosty tug-of-war game - Alfie and Murphy

A frosty tug-of-war game - Rollestone (Photo by Neil)

Pear Tree Hill, Salisbury Plain West

Dogs Trust Dog Show 2010

Murphy lost his battle with cancer on Thursday 25th November, 2010.

Carole says, "We knew it was a battle he couldn't win. But he put up a good fight and had a good quality 5 months after he was diagnosed. On the 25th November, he was struggling with his breathing so we knew it was time to have him put to sleep. We stayed with him to the very end and he did go peacefully."

Carole continues, "We miss him terribly but are comforted by knowing we did everything we could have done for him."