Whenever I would tell people how many animals we have they would always make some crack like “Old Lorenzo had a farm”. Then I would say no, a farm produces a product. What we have is more like a shelter.
The Good Son
August was a hard month. We lost both of our dogs to cancer days just apart. Last August our youngest dog Lily died so August has not been kind as of late. One good thing did happen the last week of this past August and that was us adopting an eight year old beagle named Abel.
Abel comes to us from Kindness Ranch who have many animals in their care as well as beagles that survive laboratory research. These people are truly doing the lords work. Beagles are the preferred dogs for laboratory research partly because of their mild temperament which ironically is the thing we love most about them. Abel was being fostered by a family in Redmond Washington and we found him on Petfinder.
Except for a few minor dust ups with our cat Smokey trying to be a bully, Abel’s first couple weeks with us has been pretty smooth. Janet had the brilliant idea of letting both of them sit with her in the reading room during the day. Since then Smokey has become less fearful and more accepting of Abel’s constant pacing in circles, a habit we noticed in our now angel dog Lily. They were both caged for the early years of their lives.
Wednesday we had his first vet appointment with our vet Dr. Martin who is super cool. Although she can not prescribe or recommend CBD for animals, I ran it by her and she agrees they can do no harm. Dogs have to ingest lots of toxins in their lifetime so maybe this will help even things out a bit. We want to do everything possible to make sure that Abel has a long and healthy life.
Remembering Odie
Years ago I used to keep a journal. It helped me work through a lot of things that I was going through at the time. For some reason I got away from doing that, but since nobody reads this blog I’ve decided that this is my journal now and plan to make more frequent entries. If someone reads it, no big deal. I have no secrets.
One week ago we were at a vet appointment for Herbie. We always brought Odie along for because he hates to be left alone with just the cats, plus it’s just nice to have him around supporting Herbie. We mentioned to the doctor how Odie was having some stool issues and she noticed that he had some muscle wasting in multiple areas that was an indication of a very old dog or a very sick dog. Suddenly the conversation was no longer about Herbie.
The doctor ordered a set of x-rays and they confirmed the worst. His intestines were being smashed to the back of his body by huge tumors that had been growing for some time. Some calcification of the organs had already begun. He didn’t have long.
I felt numb and heartbroken. We had just spent hundreds on expensive tests and even a dental only a few months ago where they told us he was fine. I’m still trying to not be angry about that. If they had done the x-ray when we had the senior blood panel done on him in April, maybe we could have done something to slow the process or at least make him more comfortable.
His last day was not comfortable. That was Monday. We said goodbye to him at 3:00 Monday afternoon, less than a week after the diagnosis.
The last few days have been really shitty. When you adopt older dogs you have less time with them. That’s the trade off, I get that but that doesn’t mean that you don’t feel like you just took a baseball bat to the gut every time you lose one.
And you know what, I’d do the same thing all over again.
It’s not about us it’s about the dog.
If I see another older dog in a shelter in the near future, I’m probably gonna adopt them. Especially if they’re a beagle.
Right now, little Herbie is the last man standing. I always knew he was a tough little guy but I had no idea he would outlive our other dogs.
I’ll always remember Odie as being such a diplomat. He ignored the cats even when they were acting crazy. Lily was so nervous that she would often trip over him and even lay on top of him but he never protested. And he was always careful to not trample Herbie even at dinner time.
I’m really gonna miss my buddy. He was something special. Right now I imagine him and Lily in heaven snuggling together. Saving a space for Herbie.
Meet our new family member Odie the beagle/basset hound
Lorenzo and I have been soul searching about adding a canine son or daughter to our family. Our old dog Barney is with us in spirit, but not body, since he passed away under doctor’s care 12/1/10 at almost 14 years of age. We wanted a mid size or small rescue dog. Above all we wanted a dog whose spirit was very kind and gentle and agreeable towards all living things, a buddha dog. 🙂 Yesterday we found our buddha dog, and he is now our son, peacefully dozing on our floor as I type this. His name had been Otis, but we have renamed him to Odie, after cartoon Garfield’s doggie friend. It’s only right, since Lorenzo is a cartoonist.
Odie was in a shelter in Kenosha, WI. We learned about this shelter through Petfinder.com, which is a website where most rescues and shelters nationwide list their pets available for adoption. I also searched several area rescue’s websites that I know personally through my animal welfare volunteering in years past, and present day donations here and there. I showed my husband a photo of one shelter dog whose photo and description moved me who was in Kenosha, WI. We then noticed that Kenosha, WI was only 55 miles from us and that they had three dogs on their site that we liked. We felt it was a sign, and that we were meant to go there. I cleared my schedule for that next day, we filled out the online application, and off we went to Kenosha, WI yesterday, arriving just as they opened their doors at 1pm.
Fate did all the rest. The original dog I’d noticed had already been adopted, the third dog we liked was not good with other dogs, and the second dog, now our son, we learned had been waiting for the right forever home for SIX MONTHS. He did have one brief adoption but they were not fully committed and/or knowledgeable, and brought him back. Right away I got teary thinking of all the “long timers” I had known or heard about at Chicago Animal Care & Control during my 3+ years volunteering there. It was just not fair that such a kind spirited dog had to go through so much, so he had to become our son. Then to further validate our decision that this was meant to be, the shelter said they had recently decided to fix his cherry eye condition by surgery for free next Monday 7/11/11, and would also waive his adoption fee since he was overweight. We had been prepared to pay any fees for our buddha dog, but it was a fun hug from the universe to receive such discounts. We have already spent a little of the leftover money on a very handsome harness for his walks, and he is very earnestly learning what is expected of him as we do positive reinforcement training.
You can look forward to lots of videos on www.BarneysHomeDogBoarding.com and blog entries here about him. Even though he’s only one day out of the shelter, it’s clear that the shelter told the truth, and that he really is great with all dogs and our cats and all people. All the shelter volunteers came out to greet us and celebrate that their beloved long timer was finally going home for good. I have already sent them an update with photos, and will keep sending them updates, to thank them for their faithful care of him. We know he will be a kind and welcoming host to my reading clients that come to the house, and a wonderful friend and gentle companion to the peaceful big-hearted dogs that we board with www.BarneysHomeDogBoarding.com. This six year old buddha dog is home at last.