Annie

As I write this I am so sad. My sweet, sweet puppy is sick. I’ve talked about my dogs here before but this time it’s different. Annie is the dog we’ve had the longest, almost 4 years now, and was our first “baby”. I know there are a lot of people that don’t understand how you could be so attached to a dog but we are. We love her just like she was a part of our family.

About 5 weeks ago she started acting funny. She wasn’t taking treats or acting like herself. She stopped chasing rabbits and squirrels (which were her favorite things to do). At one point we called her and she wouldn’t get up. That’s when I got scared. I took her to the vet who thought it was a simple intestinal infection and gave me antibiotics but told me to bring her back if she didn’t get better in the next few days. Well, in those few days she rallied and got frisky again.

But that didn’t last. Last week she started acting lethargic again and just not like her. There are times her back leg will twitch or she’ll kind of stumble when she walks. And she won’t eat almost anything. I took her back to the vet on Thursday and he did blood tests to get a better look at what’s going on. He called on Saturday. Her kidneys are bad. I can’t tell you how much it hurt to hear that. I don’t know what it is about my family and kidneys but even our dogs don’t have good luck there. He said that the only thing we can do is put her on a special diet for her kidneys and see how she does. He said he’s had dogs that do great and get 1-2 more good years with the diet. But he also said the next 60-90 days would tell us how she’s going to do. I can honestly say that if she doesn’t eat this new diet in the next few days that we won’t have her at the end of the week.

Annie has been a GREAT dog. From the time we got her she was perfect. When we got her she had a dislocated hip and had to have surgery but she just trusted us that we would take care of her, even when she was in pain. After she recovered from the surgery you could barely tell there had ever been anything wrong. She ran around the yard with the energy of 10 dogs. She would play with her toys and sleep in the garage. She was a lap dog from the start. If I sat down she was immediately in my lap, wanting to be held. If you came to our house and were around her for more than 2 minutes she’d be leaning on you legs, just waiting to be petted, never jumping or bothering. I know this is rambling and incoherent but I can’t help it. I love her and don’t want to let her go.

And I’m just heartbroken. Gabe and I have already decided that once our other two dogs (yes, we have another one – Sammy’s sister - but that’s a story for another post) are gone we aren’t getting any more. This is just too much. I know dogs don’t live forever but I am just too attached to go through this over and over throughout my life. I’m thankful for all the time I’ve gotten to spend with Annie. She has truly been a blessing and I know I will never forget her, no matter how much longer we are lucky to have her.