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Charlie Bubbles

Started by Lovemedogs, November 26, 2013, 11:01:10 PM

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Lovemedogs

I have it been around for a while, but I thought I would Addison's my beloved Charlie, standard poodle, to this part of the CIMDA forum. As some of you will already know, Charlie had been diagnosed with kidney disease at the same time as pancreatitis  and high b.p., back in Septmeber 2010. She was very ill indeed and was hospitalised for 9 days at the start. She needed a feeding tube inserted through her neck as she had refused food for 2 weeks and still wasn't eating. Charlie was such a very brave and gutsy girl. She was determined not to give up.
Gradually, with the help of the most wonderful vet in the world,  Charlie regained strength and her kidney values improved to the point where she had just early stage kidney disease. This is pretty rare for a dog to do this. She needed a great deal of care in the following few years to balance the kidney issues with keeping pancreatitis at bay. Sadly her back legs were getting weaker - she had been dx with HD several years prior to this. Also, she started to get recurrent UTIs. Many times we had cystocentesis done and culture and sensitivity tests done on the urine to determine the correct antibiotics, but earlier this year, we were running out of antibiotics that the bacteria wasn't resistant to. At the beginning of May things got a bit worse when the choice was a 5 days hospitalisation on IVs to give a particular drug or just hoping one other would work. On the 9th May, when I took she out to the toilet, I, for the first time, felt really sad looking at her. I had been worried for over 2 years and she had been on a harness for the last year to help her get around, but although she needed a lot of care, up until that point I always felt she had a good quality of life? I used to help her upstairs at night and carried her down each morning. She was so clean still. My vet had checked her often. It was rare for more than a couple of weeks to pass without seeing him. So I made the decision on the 9th, asked my husband to ring the vet and ask for one of her three favourite vets to come out to the house the next day. I remember I had to go to a very important meeting to help prevent a client losing her job and I cried all the way there and all the way home, just managing to get through the meeting without showing myself up. The next day, the 10th, she stuffed down a special fillet steak for her breakfast. Her passing was very peaceful. Her favourite vet nurse came out with one of the vets she knew well. She laid on my knee having a cuddle to her last breath, before we took her on her last journey to the crematorium. Her ashes are next to her best friends on the window ledge in my bedroom. Charlie was 14 and a half. She was one of the bravest souls I have ever had the joy to love and be loved by. This summer, as we never go away on holiday, I bought a log cabin for our garden so the holiday can come to us. I have called it CherryBobbins in honour of my oh so special girl as that was the name  I called her in her last months. I am having a plaque made for the front of it with her picture on. I miss my girl so much. She understood me so well. I feel so privileged to have spent so many years with her and will always love her forever and a day. Pam

Jo CIMDA

Oh Pam,  your story about Charlie, and your very close relationship, is very sad but at the same time I can see you have been very privileged in having Charlie to share your life. Despite her health battles, which must have been extremely difficult and scary, she did become an old girl! That's wonderful.

Thank you for sharing with us.  She will always be in your heart.

Jo
x

Lovemedogs

Thankyou Jo.
I asked myself so many times in the last 6 months, if it was time yet, but while ever she was interested in playing with the younger ones, interested in everything around her, eating and drinking and pain free, I felt she deserved to be here still.

As with many older dogs, she knew exactly how to get what she wanted from me. She barked as soon as I left the room and often didn't stop until I went back to her. If I went out to a meeting she knew then not to bark and my husband always came to sit with her, so she was never left without one or the other of us with her.

She certainly does have a special place in my heart for all time.

I hope you are ok Jo. I hope to be around a bit more to help out if needed soon as I am going to retire next summer. More time for CherryBobbins !

Jo CIMDA

Quote from: Lovemedogs on November 27, 2013, 04:54:23 PM
I hope you are ok Jo. I hope to be around a bit more to help out if needed soon as I am going to retire next summer. More time for CherryBobbins !

Thank you, I am fine Pam, and I shall look forward to seeing your posts more often. Charlie was a very lucky girl.

Jo