Joey was born sometime mid June 2002.
He was born with the disease Hydrocephalus (water on the brain), which left him with little or no hope of finding a new home. If you ask an expert, they will tell you that puppies with this usually don’t make it to two months of age (we’re about to prove them wrong!). He and his siblings were dropped off at a local animal shelter where everyone but him was adopted. He was going to be euthanized. This tiny little puppy was so weak from the pressure on his brain that he couldn’t even raise his head. Luckily for Joey and thousands of other homeless pets, there are organizations out there that help them find a second chance at life. One of these organizations found him.
Joey was taken in and given medical treatment and even accupressure. You might ask why anyone would bother with a puppy with such a poor prognosis. Well, simply because every creature deserves a chance at the best life possible. Why not give this little guy a shot?
After a few weeks Joey was ready to find his forever home. One thing that was understood was that there was no way of knowing just how long he would live. It could’ve been one more week,
or it could’ve been ten years.
I adopted Joey when he was around 4 months old. What an absolute doll! (Please, is there anything more cute than a shepherd pup? No, I didn’t think so.) I took him in with only one condition, to give the loving home he deserved no matter how long he lived. Anyway, now here I have this adorable puppy that can’t walk a straight line, can’t see very well, and his head wobbles! Oh, don’t get the wrong idea, just because he had these few problems it didn’t slow him down any. He wasn’t in any pain and as far as he was concerned; there wasn’t anything wrong with him. And nothing could stop him from being the happiest dog alive!
As weeks went by, his condition improved, to look at him you wouldn’t know anything was ever wrong with him. Really, as far as I was concerned, (just like he was), there wasn’t anything wrong with him.
He was perfect.
After seven months of taking him for granted. He was gone. I was told that if he started to relapse with the pressure on his brain that he would start to have small short lived seizures and they would progressively get worse. That never happened. I left home one day for a few hours and when I returned home, he was seizing.
I rushed him to an animal emergency facility that operates 24/7 and had him admitted. The hardest part was going home and leaving him there, alone and scared, but I figured he would pull through and be fine. Now, I just had to get used to the idea of this becoming a more and more frequent occurrence until his end.
I called every few hours through out the night and it seemed he was getting better with the seizure medications and constant supervision. The veterinarian that was caring for him called me at 8:30 am. She told me that all nightit seemed he was improving even though he had a few small seizures. But then he had a seizure at 6:30 am, that she felt left him with irreversible damage, he probably would never walk again. As a matter of fact, he seized again while we were on the phone. I asked her to please keep him comfortable until I got there. So I said goodbye to my puppy and held him while he died.
Joey lived to the ripe old age of eleven months. Remember that puppies usually don’t live long with Hydrocephalus, but mine did. I never ask why my puppy was taken from me so soon. He could have been taken a lot sooner. You see, one week after I brought Joey home, he fell off the “dog ramp” and he appeared to have a little seizure right there in front of me. I ran down to him, sat on the ground and held and rocked him. I cried and asked, “not yet, not yet”. Thank you.
You gave me seven more months…
I love and miss you Joey,
| Joey |
| Julie |