In 1990, my family moved into a new neighborhood. I became friends with the girls that lived behind us. Their dog had just given birth to a litter of puppies and they asked me if I wanted to have a puppy. I had never had a pet before so I desperately wanted one. I rushed home and asked my parents if it was ok. At first my Dad said no. I got my sister to help persuade him to finally say yes. My mom said yes too.
The only problem was my dad wanted the puppy to sleep in the garage. My sister, mom, and I went and picked the puppy out. She was beautiful! She was tan and we chose to name her Princess. That night we had to leave her in the garage. We could hear her crying all night through the vents. Needless to say, from that point on she had taken over head of the household. She was PRINCESS OF THE ROOST. Princess was so smart and LOVED to eat M&M’s (or basically anything chocolate).
She liked to go walking and outings in the car. She always had her hair fixed with a different color hair bow everyday. We thought and treated her like a human. She ate what we did. If we had steak for dinner, so did she. She had Mountain Dew in her bowl with ice cubes. Throughout the years Princess aged and so did we. My sister moved out and got married and I was a busy teenager. My mother got closer to Princess, leaving us to think that she had a new daughter.
During the summer of 2005 Princess started having these seizure like episodes. We took her to the doctor( is what we called them since vets are for animals)and we were told that she was in the 1st stages of congested heart failure. She was put on medication and all was well. I was pregnant at the time. She did well for a couple of months with only having the episodes occasionally. I still live at home and one morning my son and I were asleep and she came and
wanted me to get out of bed.
I noticed her breathing seemed labored. I called my sister and mother(who was at work), and then the doctor. We took her that afternoon and when we got there she had an episode and we thought she was gone. The nurses took her back into the room. Finally after 25 minutes there she was with her pink bow. The doctor told us that she was in another stage of congested heart failure.
He put her on a lot of meds and we took her home. My sister and her son came up to visit that night. Princess was weak, but was still wagging her tail and licking you all over.(she was a licker!!!)The next day she deteriorated. She could not eat or drink or even use the bathroom. My sister suggested we take her walking around
the block riding in my son’s stroller.
She was so weak, but she still lifted her head and looked around. We said she was riding in a Cadillac or Lexus. We called the doctor and he wanted us to bring her in for the day to monitor her and do x-rays. When we went back to pick her up, I knew. She was weaker and her eyes were sad. We had a choice then, but my mom, our mom was not having it. She said she promised Princess she would come back home and that is what she did. That night is a night I will NEVER forget.
She would come and go. She was so sick. We gave her water (with ice cubes) and the poor soul would drank until she could no longer hold her head up. My sister had to leave and it was just me,mom, and my 5 month old son. Dad was out of town on business. We sat up with her all night. She was wrapped up in her favorite blanket on the love seat. Mom would plump her pillow and fix her covers. Morning came and she was still clinging to life. It was like she did not want us to see her go. She thought it would be to hard for us. Princess is a fighter. She was so strong.
We finally made the decision to take her back to the doctors. My sister came with us. It was hard to watch, but never in our minds was the idea to have her face it alone. She was covered in her favorite blanket and this time a yellow bow to match her mom’s car. We said good-bye as her heart finally rested. We lost a member of our family today. A daughter, a sister, a friend. We miss you beautiful!!!
Until we meet on Rainbow Bridge,
Love,
| Princess |
| Pat, Courtney, & Andrea |