Fannie Mae Manker

Doing rescue for many years means we have lost numerous pets who are our family members. Sometimes a dog comes along that especially touches your heart. One of those little dogs was Fannie our beautiful, funny, silly little Maltese. Fannie was rescued from Philadelphia in August of 2016. My friend picked her up to foster her. She was supposed to have been well cared for and just given a bath. The foster found a dog in horrible condition with her bad, bloody teeth hanging out of her mouth. She was covered in urine and feces and she had to put the windows down in the car she was so bad smelling from that plus the terrible infections in her mouth. She took her home and bathed her for well over an hour and trimmed her. After checking with Mary at Northcentral Maltese rescue the foster took her to her doctor. He said with the amount of infection in her body she may have had 2 more days to live! She was put on strong antibiotics and then a dental and jaw repair was done. Her surrender papers said she was spayed and she was not. We decided to adopt Fannie. She came to our home with more meds for the mouth infection. After she recovered from that she was spayed. The poor quiet little sick dog, was now feeling better and came to life. Not being used to having no teeth her little tongue stuck out and she would chew on it. We found it to be her way of “talking” with us. She ran and played and looked like a baby goat when she would run and kick her back feet together. She felt at home as soon as she came in that door. When she healed after her spay was when we realized the unique personality of this little girl! She loved everyone and loved to boss our big Yorkie Murphy. Her favorite thing in life was spending time with her Dad. She bonded with John from day one and the bond grew stronger and stronger. If he was on the recliner, Fannie was there too. If he was doing paperwork upstairs Fannie was either on the bed watching or sitting on the third step from the top so she could be sure nothing was going on downstairs. Fannie loved to sleep in bed and had a baby rail so she would not fall out. When she would go to the groomer she would talk with her as well as when she went to the vet. It was just as if she was telling them what she wanted. With both of us being retired we are home all the time with our pups so Fannie had someone there with her all the time. Just a week ago she seemed to not want to eat and was walking stiffly. We took her to the vet and she had pancreatitis. She was treated with fluids and meds. We came home and she still did not want to eat but did drink. She returned to the vet on Saturday for more fluids and pain meds. Saturday evening she got worse and we took her to the ER. They admitted her for IV fluids and pain meds. In the morning when I called the vet said she had gone into kidney failure and we needed to come right away. When we visited with her we knew it was time for her to go to the Rainbow Bridge. It was peaceful and quick. We brought our precious girl home and buried her in the backyard during a snow storm. She loved the snow so we waited until it was snowing hard and buried her. We know she is at peace but we are in terrible pain with losing her so quickly. Her “sister” died 2 weeks before her and we know that Cookie was there to meet her. So our little once in a lifetime Fannie is gone. Our hearts are heavy and lots of tears. By adopting older or special needs dogs you know they might not be with you for long but Fannie was with us over 5 1/2 years. She was a member of our family and loved by all that knew her. Just 3 days after Fannie passed one of our Shih Tzu also died. She had cancer. So we know that now Cookie, Fannie and Molly Mop are together and waiting for their Mom and Dad when the time comes. All I can say is that it was a privilege and a blessing to call Fannie our little girl.

Fannie you will never be forgotten and will forever be loved. You gave us 5 1/2 years of joy and fun.