This the story of Pippa June. We first met online. Kinda like online dating. We were looking for a playmate for our Australian Nedda Jean and we found Pippa’s picture online and we were in love. At least Marc and I were. Pippa was being cared for by a foster mom in Spencer Iowa, about 6 hours from here. So we made the journey to meet this girl. The first meeting was rough, there was much growling on the part of Nedda (we think possibly due to the numerous dogs who rushed out to greet us.) Initially Nedda wouldn’t even go in the house and Pippa was simply the sweetest girl just anxious to have a new friend. So we mulled it over at our hotel and in the morning decided to try again. The second meeting while not perfect was definitely better. It was just Nedda and Pippa and they were out in the yard and definitely curious about each other. We decided she was coming home with us. The 6 hour journey was not uneventful, at first we put them both in the back seat but Pippa just couldn’t sit still and wanted to peek out the window or get in the front seat. Nedda just wanted to chill as she hates car rides. She just tolerates them as necessary (as some people do with flying). She was 10 when we rescued her, she was super high energy and ran circles around our other rescue who was only 6 at the time. We brought her home and the joy and pain of two dogs began. She was not welcomed with open arms by our other sweet girl , I guess you could say they fought like sisters. But we learned to co-habitate.
We had so much fun with her our beloved yoga dog, our barking baby. Walking them was the highlight of everyday. We got a double leash and the fun was guaranteed. As we all acclimated to each other it was clear she was a special dog. We knew she was older and that our length of time would be limited with her, but she made sure we enjoyed every second. She was up for anything, I mean she came with a frisbee if that wasn’t a clue I don’t know what is.
She was always making us laugh at her antics, she was playful and impulsive and she kept us going. She was a great communicator even if it took us some time to comprehend the language, we are slow like that way.
Then the trouble started. About 5 months ago she started to bleed from her nose. At first it was hardly noticeable. We saw the vet and we began to try antibiotics, thinking she may have had an infection or something lodged in the nasal passage that was causing it. As fast as it began it subsided. We wrote it off to the seasonal change and allergies. About 2 months ago it returned with a vengeance.
I was out working in the yard doing some cleanup and the dogs were out front. I came around from the back and Pippa was covered in blood. Her forelegs were covered, her face was smeared from ear to ear. I had no idea where it was coming from and it scared me. As I tried to calm her down and figure out where she was bleeding from she would continue sneezing and with each sneeze came more blood often times in large clots. After the episode subsided she laid in the grass and I was sure she was going to die that day. She calmed down, the bleeding subsided and we cleaned her up and took her inside. Then we called the vet. This time we were going to try something different. A regime of antibiotics and histamines were prescribed. A recommendation of possible sedation and scope was offered as a possible next step.
The same scenario played out about every two weeks, after the third one we ended up in the local emergency animal care at 1130 in the evening, thinking she wasn’t going to survive that journey. But to our surprise around 1am she walked out, head held high, cleaned up and we took her home with some new Chinese herb supplement to help control the bleeding. She did very well with the herb/antibiotic medley. Seemed almost like our old dog, peppy, barking at the world and ready to go everyday.
Yesterday was round 4, it came without warning and was too much, once she started bleeding it was coming from both nostrils and it was unstoppable. She continued to walk around drink water and eat treats but the blood was non-ending. So we decided enough is enough, she is sleeping most days, she was bleeding uncontrollably and could not breathe through her nose. We called the vet, we tried to have one more day with her but it wasn’t fair for our one more day, so we took her in yesterday afternoon.
Dr. Furbeck is always so compassionate and helpful through the difficult process. They gave the necessary injection and she slowly calmed down and then the second injection and our sweet girl was gone.
Our hearts are broken. Our house feels empty and quiet. Our sweet Nedda is sad without her sister. She barely makes a sound.
And life continues, we just need to be content in knowing that we had her for the time we did. And be grateful for the sweet girl Pippa June and the joy and light she brought to us. Unconditionally.
Until Next Time,
Laurie
Eclectic Energy 