Daisy

It's so hard to write about something about our dog today. I have tears in my eyes as I type. We adopted her from our vet about 8 years ago. We were looking for the dog to replace my other beloved dog, Liberty, who had to be put down after 13 years. So we had adopted several other dogs between Liberty and Daisy. We had Sugar (who lasted a few months), another Spice dog who at the time was pregnant at the time of adoption (that was not good), we got rid of her, another dog by the name of Jessie (to hyper), and we had just had gotten rid of a cross breed named Chip (the dog that NOBODY liked).

So we went out to the vets and they said, "Well we have Daisy Mae here." All I could think is wow she is HUGE!! A lot of fur too. So I wasn't sure how L would like her. The kids and I just LOVED her to pieces!! So we loaded her up in the van and went home. We took pictures of her with the kids and they loved her so much. She always loved the attention. S was around 7 years old and J was 4 years old when we adopted her. I think Daisy was around 3 or 4 herself. She would always have that annoying habit of sticking her paw up when she wanted us to pat her. We have sported several long scratch marks from her. She was friendly to everyone who walked into the yard. She got along with squirrels, other dogs, and even cats. She was truly loved.

Lately though things have changed with her. She didn't want to eat anything, doesn't come to me when I've called her. I decided to call our new vet. Thankfully, our vet makes house calls. So he goes out into the yard where she is laying. He noticed that something isn't right either as usually Daisy will go up to him and be the most friendliest animal ever, demanding to be patted. She lifted her head and placed it back down on the ground. So he took her temperature (which she didn't like and nearly bit him) and I asked the vet if he was okay. Of course, being a vet he's probably been bitten several times. But, usually Daisy doesn't bite. He said, "Well it's not good. Her temperature is three degrees below normal." Then he felt under all of that fur. I am guessing that he found a tumor. He said, "The kidney's are the first organs to shut down. She's dying."

It is so hard to go through this. I have lost so many animals over my life. And now I will be losing Daisy, our Collie that we have had for nearly 8 years. She has kidney problems. It is vital for an animal to have good kidney function because when that goes that is it. I have the sad duty of telling the rest of the family what to expect over the next few days. As the vet believes that she won't last very long.

I keeping hoping that he's wrong. But isn't that how we all are when we hear a diagnosis of grave consequences. "Couldn't he be wrong?" But he's a vet. He knows. He gave her a shot to make her feel a little better. I have cried buckets of tears this morning. I put some of her towels on her to make her feel warm. I have put my head down on her head crying. Pleading for her not to die. The dog doesn't like it when I get "emotional." But it's hard. It's hard not to cry when you know a member of the family will probably die.

I'm going to miss her so much. We used to say "Shake!" and she would raise her paw and we would shake hands. Then I would say "Switch" and she would switch paws to shake hands. I remember also how fearful she was when it came to thunderstorms and the 4th of July. She would hide out in the hallway or in J's room just to get away from the noise.

I am going to miss my old friend, Daisy.