Our lab mix Shady has passed away

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Dogs, pet loss

She had an autoimmune disease that destroyed her own red blood cells. We worked with Drs Killian and Peters at Prescott Animal Hospital to treat this since September, but Shady was not able to recover.

We adopted her from the Yavapai Humane Society in the summer of 2016 when she was 5 years old. She spent 3 1/2 years with us. Not enough time.

Here are some of my favorite photos of Shady.

Shady and Gary at the dog park

 

Shady running though the snow in our yard last winter

 

Shady being goofy, she liked to roll in the grass

 

One of my first photos of Shady. When we introduced her to rat terrier Suzie Lightning, Suzie showed her feelings by growling and flashing teeth.

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Our Bird Larry R.I.P.

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gray cheeked parakeet, pet loss

Larry, our gray cheek parakeet, died Tuesday night. On Monday he was not himself, on Tuesday he seemed quite ill. He passed during the night on Tuesday.

Gary got Larry in the spring of 2000 from a breeder in San Diego. When he joined us, I had an elderly Labrador Retriever named Chelsea. Larry is a fruit eater, when he finished with a grape or a piece of apple he sometimes flung it out of his cage. Chelsea learned this was a food source, she would sit by his cage and beg for fruit scraps.

Larry will be missed. I hope his spirit is in free flight with a large flock of fellow gray checks, in a place where there are lots of grapes and apples.

Poem from Jon Katz: Divine Old Dog

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Dogs, old dog poem, pet loss

Here’s a poem from one of my favorite authors, Jon Katz, about his Divine Old Dog  http://www.bedlamfarm.com/2014/02/06/the-divine-old-dog-the-angels-know-her-well/

As I read it I thought of our Annie who passed away last month at age 17. Bittersweet. We miss Annie every day, on every walk, at each feeding time. Our other dogs, her pack mates, don’t seem to mourn her passing as we humans do. Perhaps their way is different, or maybe they just live in the present moment. A mystery, for sure.

Details on Annie’s Passing

Tags

Dogs, pet loss

Our Annie passed away on Tuesday. Now that a few days have gone by, I’ll share the story.

Annie was not well since early summer, we expected her to pass away then. She lost a lot of weight, was not eating well, and had some recurring infections. But either she looked over the edge and decided she was not ready, or her immune system restarted, and she stabilized. She was in a steady state until about 2 weeks ago when she would eat intermittently. She even turned down a piece of steak and a pork chop – item she craved in the past. And she was slowing down on her walks.

On Monday night she rolled off her bed, which is about 5 inches above the floor and she could not get back up on it. We went over to assist her and when we looked at her face it was obvious that she experienced some neurological event. Her eyes were looking in different directions and she could not stand. We sat up with her for much of the night, at times she was quiet and other she was agitated. On Tuesday morning we took her to the vet for the last time.

We miss Annie, she would have been with us for 13 years next month. She was between 3 and 4 years old when we got her, making her close to 17 years of age.

“Going Home: Finding Peace When Pets Die.” « Bedlam Farm Journal

Tags

Dogs, pet loss, pets

Collaboration. “Going Home: Finding Peace When Pets Die.” « Bedlam Farm Journal.

 

Watch the video at the bottom of the linked page. I have pre-ordered a copy of this book.