I can’t even find the words to write this message so bare with me.
Life is just not fair and Cassie deserved so much better and so much more time. We loved her but love just wasn’t enough, and devastatingly we lost her Tuesday evening. We came home from our evening activities and she was gone. If I had only known it was her last day I would have spent more time with her and told her how much I loved her, but I just didn’t know. I’ve always heard people say they would have done things differently if they had only known it would be the last opportunity and I can now tell you first hand how true that it is. I would have held her longer and simply told her how special she was and how much I loved her and wished I could have saved her. I told her these things Tuesday night but it was too late. Cassie obviously had her health ailments but we recently had a great checkup and her future was looking so promising and hopeful. I’ve gone over it all a million times in my mind. I just can’t make sense of it and devastating is what it is. It’s just not fair. Cassie didn’t ask for much in life and she was one of the sweetest and most gentle natured babies I have ever been around. She loved her routine and had a few quirks that made you love her even more.
Rest in peace baby girl and know that you were loved.
My brother, Winchester, and I joined rescue today. As you can see from our pictures, we are in bad shape. We were found abandoned and then we were given to rescue so they could fix us up as good as new.
I am about 5 months old and weigh 24 pounds. I am much smaller than my brother because I have difficulty eating and keeping the food down. My skin is covered with fleas, demodex and scabs. My skin is inflamed and my feet are so swollen it is painful to walk. I have an irregular heartbeat, but that might just be from me being so sick. I will need to be in the clinic for a while. I already got a bath today, and I will be getting three a week from now on. I love to be loved on and pampered! What gal doesn’t? It’s been a long time since I was treated this nice.
I hope to get well soon so I can be adopted. I haven’t decided yet if I want to stay with my brother or branch out on my own. So stay tuned and see what we decide. In the meantime, I’m going to focus on becoming healthy again. Please keep my brother and me in your thoughts.
2/7/19 Update: Cassie has very mild pulmonic stenosis (narrowing of the heart valve), but Dr. Fields does not consider it bad enough to require treatment at present. Of greater concern is a dilation of the left side of the heart, with borderline myocardial disfunction. That side is not pumping well. Most of the time when she sees this condition, it is in older dogs. Younger dogs, like Merlin, normally have right side issues. In her experience, the most likely cause is not a congenital defect, like with Merlin, but a disease transmitted by an insect (lepto, Lyme, Chagas, etc.). So she will start a round of doxycycline and have some comprehensive blood tests to detect any such diseases. Once the blood tests are back, she and Dr. Larsen will formulate a plan for how to proceed.
4/12/19 Update: She has gained 7 lbs since she her last vet visit and is now 34 lbs. The doc thought she looked great and had come a long way. The staff all loved and doted on her and she loved the attention. She is definitely about to start her heat cycle. The doc loaded us up with tons of diapers to get through the next few weeks. The doc said she will start any day now since she is showing all the signs that I had also noticed.
Even though she has made so much progress and come such a long way, her heart has not improved. She just completed 30 days of doxy, which did help her improve in some other areas, but not her heart condition. Her blood and urine test only showed positive for one organism so that was why we did the doxy for 30 days … but that organism is not the cause of her heart condition. So her heart appears to be a congenital defect. She is rated to have a stage 3/4 heart murmur defect and the defect is on both sides of her heart as opposed to being on one side. She is scheduled to go back to the cardiologist in August.
7/1/19 Update: Cassie is continuing to do well and she looks great. She has a routine and she likes her routine. In just a few weeks, she will be turning 1 year old! Not much has changed as far as her health in the past few months. She goes back to the cardiologist on August 6 and then we will, hopefully, know a little more about her heart condition and its progression or hopefully lack of progression. Either way, we will have a bit more information, which is always helpful.
Cassie is a pretty laid back girl that never really acts like a puppy. She has short spurts of energy where she jumps around or runs and plays, but then calms down pretty quickly and is content laying around. She’s the type of girl who loves her crate. For her, it’s her little retreat. She also loves to be outside. Unfortunately, with as hot as it has been getting, I’ve been having to limit her outside time.
Yesterday, she surprised me by being a little naughty. Like I said, she typically doesnt do things that a puppy would do so her little destruction while I was cleaning the house made me laugh. She was so proud of herself. It actually made me very happy to see her doing something that is simply puppy behavior, especially with how happy it made her.
7/26/19 Update: Cassie has an appointment coming up with the heart specialist. Our fingers are crossed for good news! We’re grateful for our generous supporters, like those bidding in our Facebook auction RIGHT NOW, because without them, we wouldn’t be able to afford to take Cassie to that specialist. Thank you for allowing us to give this sweet girl the best care possible!
