Retired Pro Athlete Waiting At the Bridge

She Who Must Be Obeyed has been at the bridge for five years as of today.  We can say she was an honorary tripawd.  Her last hours on earth were on 3 legs but she never had an amputation.

Our humans were going to go out of town for the day on Saturday and for our safety, had us spend the night at our daycare.  On Friday, the mommy got home late, like 8 hours late from work and had to do laundry and pack for us and her daytrip.  So while the laundry was going, the daddy was upstairs asleep, she stayed downstairs and snuggled with Kitty in bed.  This was normal.  Kitty has many talents and one of them is she can snuggle with anyone or anything and it will be comfortable and wonderful.  You will feel better after snuggling with Kitty even if you don’t like dogs.

So in the morning, we went into the backyard to do our business and Kitty favored her left hind leg.  That was her good leg.  The mommy made note of it and would bring it up to Dr. Huff on Monday when Kitty had her chiropractic adjustment.  Kitty was in a great mood that morning and ate all of her breakfast, complimented the chef, and kissed her too.  Kitty had been off her food for a few months at that point and the humans were desperate to get her to eat.  Satin Balls were her favorite and she ate them more than anything else.  Something we learned later, this was a sign of kidney disease.  For some reason, when your kidneys start to fail, your nose does too!  And then food doesn’t taste as good.  Kitty suffered from spay incontinence and leaked all the time so her urine wasn’t all that concentrated but her blood work didn’t really show anything.  No one put together that her fussy food behavior was an indicator of kidney problems.

Kitty was in such an amazing mood, she was allowed to get in the Kittyvan without being on a leash.  Kitty went through years of obedience class and was a certified (and amazing) therapy dog, dabbled in Rally-O, and even part of a drill team.  Off leash greyhounds are a no no but she was allowed to every now and again.  Yes, the humans bought Kitty a MINIVAN because she always wanted one.  Kitty would get people to drive her home in their minivans by jumping in and then refusing to get out.  Somehow, people thought this was adorable and would say, oh, its just a few miles…and drive her home with the mommy following.  One person took her over twenty miles in her van.

Everything was uneventful that weekend.  The humans got home from their day trip and watched us on the webcam.  We were having such a good time, they decided to sleep in some.  At about 1:30, Lucky Paws called.  Kitty got up from a nap and her left hind leg just snapped.  The mommy immediately gasped, “Osteo.”

Kitty was very calm when they arrived at Lucky Paws.  I heard them but was not allowed to come with them.  Kitty was taken away to NC State and I was all alone.  I think everyone realized it was a one way trip and it was just a horrible night for me.

At NC State, they ran a bunch of tests and gave Kitty lots of opiates.  Kitty is the master of Jedi mind tricks and had the stretcher modified by the vet students to include pillows and blankets.  Who do you think I learned how to train/manipulate people from?

Kitty’s leg had snapped completely in half right below the hock.  The bone was so jagged it cut through all of her skin and just her tendons were keeping her foot attached.  The news wasn’t good.   The bone didn’t show signs of a tumor but it would need to be biopsied.  It would be an 8 week process and three surgeries with 24×7 care the entire time to repair her leg.   The vets were not saying Osteo but did mention her lungs had masses in them.  Kitty was not a candidate for amputation but State was willing to amputate instead of trying to repair the break.  She had spinal stenosis, low proprioception in her right hind leg and often needed help getting up already, severe spay incontinence, and the beginnings of cognitive dysfunction.  No, amputation was not the right option for such an amazing dog nor was such an invasive surgery for a dog who most likely has osteo.

The vet offered to drug Kitty up with even more pain meds and send her home, broken leg and all, so that our own vet could help her to the bridge on Monday.  Again, my humans realized that would be selfish and for them and not Kitty.  Kitty had been their constant companion since March of 1999 and made them both better people.  She brought joy to hundreds if not thousands of people in nursing homes and hospitals.  She never met a stranger and loved everyone she met.  Except other greyhounds.  She preferred black dogs over every other color and preferred almost every other breed over greyhounds.

Shortly after 7:00 PM that night, she took her last breath while the mommy whispered in her ear and held her tight, “Just one last hug will never be enough.  I love you my Kitty pup.”

It would be several months before the results of all the tests on Kitty came back.  It was a mixed bag to say the least.  Her body was in much worse shape than any people realized.  No one had thought she had kidney disease but her kidneys were a mess and she was about to go into renal failure.  The masses in her lungs?  Not osteo.  Completely benign.  The fracture was osteo.

 With Reko Toughie Just Having Fun

Cuddles with Reko Toughie

The Moving Guys gave her the blue blanket when she refused to get up and gave them her belly instead.  The bunny was from me on her 13th birthday.

A massage from Sue at Companion Chi.  Sue came to the house once a week to give Kitty massages.

This picture led the evening news!  She was only on for just a second but everyone who knew Kitty called.  It was for a big fund raiser for pet adoptions.

OK, she was not unhappy with the costume but she was unhappy about the multiple fittings.  This was for visiting nursing homes for the annual “Swimsuit Competition.”  One year, Kitty went as a nudist.

Winning the Halloween Costume Contest!  Kitty as Zorro was always a fan favorite although Kitty preferred to wear a tutu.