Quincy, formerly known as Zeus, monopolized my thoughts December 19, 2006,upon hearing of his abandonment from his former owners that left him at the local humane society after 6 years of his life and then quickly captured my heart the first glance I had of him. He was a collie placed within the holding area of the humane society. His pen was filthy with urine and poop.
He was surrounded by the loud frantic barks of other dogs that were no longer wanted. When he was brought out for me to take his picture to put on a collie rescue website, his eyes were so sad and longing. He looked sodejected that his face, body posture and personality began to instantly imprint itself on my heart and in my soul. It was closing time, so I put a hold on him, took the adoption papers to fill out and then went home and put his story and picture up on the collie list and rescue sites.
A wonderful collie person expressed interest in
adopting the dog for a relative. This was great as I had a houseful of 4 dogs and one cat at that time. I adopted him the following day under the rescue’s name. He was already neutered, so he was good to go. The humane society gave me a broken leash that was thin, handleless and unlikely able to control a toy poodle to take him home with. Zeus, whose name was soon to
change, pulled me out of that place, eagerly went the bathroom and jumped happily into my car. I told him he was adopted and would be spending a few days at my house. On the way home, I called a neighbor to meet me at my
house to help with the introductions. I had three males and one female and this was now male number 4. Quincy (Zeus) came in; I had my neighbor keep him on leash and let each
one of my dogs out one at a time to meet. All went up to smell him and he stood there and let them. Not one problem- he was telling me then – he was here to stay.
The next few days centered on making arrangements to get him to his new home (which was a good one). The person doing this, could or would not make arrangements to do part of the travel- Quincy was going from central NY to a
few states away. Each extra day that he stayed with me, his paw print on my heart grew deeper and after 3 weeks of not getting final travel arrangements made or agreed to and looking at his pleading eyes to stay, I was having
second thoughts about letting him go. The final morning where he was to board one car to travel to one state, meet another family and stay there for a week then leave to yet another home for 2 weeks before getting to his final destination, did not sit well with me. To complicate matters, that night Quincy, jumped up on the bed and found a spot that would be his for the rest of his life- a spot where no other dog had ever attempted to sleep, and that was in a tiny space next to the wall against my back. That morning
I called and canceled his trip- Quincy had let me know- loud and clear- he found his forever home. (He was renamed Quincy to have a new happy beginning)
Quincy had a great year. He went for daily walks which he absolutely loved with his new leather collar and leash, began agility lessons, and
every night he jumped into the bed to get to his spot, cuddled up against my back, often with his head on my arm or stomach staring at me. Quincy loved food. He wagged his tail the whole time he was eating. He loved all dogs and cats. Quincy had finally found security, contentment, peace, happiness and unconditional love.
A few weeks short of his one-year anniversary, Quincy did not want to eat his breakfast. That was not like him, a chowhound. He began to drink a lot of water. After two days of refusing to eat unless something really good was put into his food, I called my vet- I knew something was wrong. Upon physical exam nothing was found. Blood work revealed high calcium levels
suggestive of lymphoma. Further testing to eliminate possible causes were then done and lymphoma was the diagnosis that then sent me to Cornell where it was confirmed (11/07) through many tests. Quincy had atypical lymphoma-
no node involvement, but a large mediastinal mass. After research, discussions with my vet, and soul-searching -putting Quincy first, I chose a palliative and wholistic treatment for him. Quincy went to the wholistic vet on 1/3/08 and the mass had shrunk, calcium levels were normal- and it was felt he was going to outlive the 3-4 month prognosis that I was given at
Cornell.
On 1/10/08, Quincy got up, ate breakfast, went outside and followed me room to room
like he always did. He hungrily and happily ate his departing treat as I went to work. Four hours later I returned home to spend lunch with them as I do daily and found Quincy lying on my living room floor in a spot where he never was. I said, “Quincer, what are you doing laying there?” and got no response. I immediately knew, went there, picked up his head and held him,
kissed him and told him how much I loved him. He was still warm and flexible. I did not know if he was alive or dead, but I believe his spirit
was still there. I held him for a bit and then ran to get the phone to call my vet, to bring him in. I needed help to get him there and called my mother to come help me. Quincy was dead at this point in time. Although it was not expected at this time and was shocking, Quincy died quickly and did not suffer. Quincy’s time had come and I believe that both God and Quincy decided to take the future painful decision away from me. I was still recovering from my senior collie, Duncan’s body giving out before he did (9/07), and getting this horrific diagnosis of lymphoma on a young, lively and loving Quincy was a lot to deal with.
Quincy lived just two months after the diagnosis, but during that time he exemplified that Cancer is just a Word and not a Sentence. Quincy lived life to its fullest each day
of those two months. Quincy, until we meet again, run happy, free, wagging your tail and
knowing that the paw prints left behind on my heart hold wonderful warm memories of your loving heart, your carefree spirit, and your natural skills of keeping my back warm while I sleep. The gentleness and love you expressed
daily through your beautiful eyes will never be forgotten. I love you forever and look forward to our future time together again.
Love you always,
Deanne
Toby, Merit, and Brady,-the collies
Hannah and Calliope- the cats
Duncan, my beloved collie waiting
at the Rainbow Bridge 9/18/07
Quincy, my beloved collie waiting
at the Rainbow
Bridge 1/10/08
Loving you now, then, forever and always,
| Quincy |
| Deanne Balutis |