Site of the happy couple
We have a new family member. Her name is Lilly, adn we got her from Pensinsula Friends Of Animals in Sequim, WA.
It all started when my parents were here in September 2008. We went to Sequim and got adopted by a kitty named Luka. We didn’t know his name at the time, but we found out that he had once come the PFOA. Unfortunately we couldn’t keep him.
It’s a sad day when you have to put an animal down. Yesterday was one of those sad days here in our household. Kiwi, our old blue heeler, started being a bit subdued and preferred to lay outside and look at the grass growing. That was a big departure even from Sunday, when she was jumping up at me as usual when I got home. By Monday evening she was not eating, and only drinking limited amounts of water.
Tuesday morning when I woke up early there was foamy dog puke in at least six or seven places indoors, and I could tell she’d been outside as well. She was definitively subdued, but she managed to get in and out through the doggie door herself. By nine-ish she was just lying outside panting. We got a time with the vet at 11, but at 10 she started whining a bit, so we just got in the car, Denice driving and me in the back holding and looking after Kiwi. Traffic was bad and Denice was a bit stressed, and when we got close to the vet Kiwi started making noises of serious pain. Denice stepped on the accelerator and exited I-5, only to take the wrong exit.
At the vets’ Kiwi was almost completely unresponsive, and I carried her in, which gave her immediate access to the treatment room. They x-rayed here and Dr. McGill came and gave us the bad news that it looked like Kiwi had several growths on her liver, and that it had probably packed up altogether. Denice, as Kiwi’s mommy for about fifteen years, had to make the difficult decision to put Kiwi to sleep, but it was the right thing to do. Even if we had had surgery she would most likely never recover, and that would just prolong her suffering, assuming she even survived the surgery. Instead she was given some morphine to remove the pain, and then she was put down. It was sad to stand there and see her go, but at least she got to live a long happy life, and didn’t have to suffer for a long time.
After that the staff put her in the car, and I drove to Bill’s house with Denice in the back still holding Kiwi. As we arrived Bill was already digging a hole next to where Kiwi’s old friends Rocky, Kitty Boy and Aurora are already resting. We buried her draped in her favorite blanket, and after that Denice and I went downtown for our improvised wake, Indian buffet and a beer.
We’ll miss her.
Meouw. Denice calls me squeaker, because she thinks I squeak, but I don’t. I meouw. I am a healthily-built cat (some would say portly or even fat) that has chosen to let Denice look after me. I guess I have to live with Henrik looking after me, too. And they do. They feed me and they pet me, mostly when I want them to. I have also decided that they can sleep in the big bed as long as I can sleep there, too. They are warming me up very nicely.
That brings me around to one of my main interests. Or maybe I should say two of my main interests. That is sleeping (number one) and eating (number two.) The latter has the effect that I occasionally have to run in and out through the cat flap a lot.
I have also decided to let the dogs use the cat flap when they need to (although in their ignorance they call it a doggie door), because if there is one thing that is worse than dog poop in the garden it has to be dog poop on the carpet. Yuk!
I am a beautiful dog, and I am the one keeping an eye out around the house. I might not have any pedigree, or know exactly how old I am, but I’m definitively the one who keeps watch. And Bill, don’t say anything. I was keeping watch.
I really like the company of Denice and Henrik. I know I sometimes drive them nuts by wanting to be around them all the time, but I can’t help it. They are just too nice.
I am, and have always been, a trail dog and I love going for long walks, especially in a park or in the forest where I can run around and chase squirrels.
I am a beatiful Blue Heeler, also known as an Australian Cattle Dog. I am the one who has lived with Denice the longest. That is 16 human years, or all my life.
Me and Denice have had a lot of fun experiences through the years, and I still like to hang around her. However, our social patterns have definitively changed, and if you want my opinion I think that she has become a bit strange since I went blind and deaf. But that’s people for you. And if anybody says I’m snoring they are lying. I don’t hear a thing.