Ms. Junebug, we sometimes called her “Juney”, was laid to rest on Tuesday, April 24, 2012. She was so brave and such a good girl right up to the end when we had to say good-bye. A little bit of history: Life for her and her companion must have been really scary as they were thrown out to survive on the streets. Junebug and her sister Queenie (now Maggie) were found by Town Lake Animal Center February 2006 down in Austin and they immediately called the rescue to come pick them up. I believe Polly is who drove down to Austin to get them, and poor Junebug was the worst case. She was covered in demodex mange and only weighed 32 lbs. In looking at the print-out I have from the shelter her condition was noted as sick. But the wonderful caregivers at the rescue did not give up on her and in May of 2006 Kelly assisted us in locating Junebug and she was a very good fit. Polly brought her over to meet her brother and sisters, Jose (8lb Blue Chi) and Sassy and Sheba (2-crazy Kitties) and that is when our lives were truly touched by the most wonderful wrinkled little slobber hound. She had one crooked toe on her right paw and was scared to death of thunderstorms. She went through her eye surgery like a trooper (entropian and cherry eye) and the only thing she did not care for was the large cone. Poor thing kept hitting it on everything and scaring herself. After the cone incident, she would not go in the kitchen area to eat or drink, so we placed her food right next to us in the living room area on her own little mat and that is where she ate her dinner. We always eat at the coffee table so nothing wrong with her eating in there with us. She was doing great, other than some kidney infections that we were treating, but at her healthiest was about 62lbs. Towards the end of 2011, she started acting different and we noticed she was getting skinnier in through her flanks and really drinking excessive water and constantly having to go potty. She was getting very weak through her back legs and could not jump on the couch anymore by herself. We took her in and did a blood and urine test and found her liver to be elevated and she was losing proteins through her urine and the gravity of her urine was really low. So, we did an ultrasound and found her liver and adrenal glands to be enlarged and her kidneys were very odd shaped. We then did the Cushing’s work-up and the hormone levels which are normally seen around 20 showed hers to be 50+. So, she became very positive for Cushing’s. We started her on a heavy treatment of Chemo which she had to take daily for 2-wks straight. She stopped eating on her own, so we would take a large syringe and feed her the Royal Canine Recovery and some Cream of Chicken soup to try to keep nutrition in her. Her weight dropped down to about 44lbs. We started cooking her ground chicken which she did really good at eating, but this week she reverted back to not wanting to eat and her poor little back legs were just not working. This treatment really put a shock to her system and If we would have known it was not going to help her, we would have never put her through it. Junebug really made our little family complete and now it’s so quite and just not the same without her. But we know she is resting in peace and she is not in pain anymore. We want to honor her life by continuing to rescue and help other bullies that need a forever home. So we hope to find our new baby soon! Tammy and Chazz
