Life in our Shoes

I often hate when people tell me that something was “meant to be”. It’s usually said as a way to make me feel better about something awful. Nobody is “meant to” experience something awful. This time, though, just this once, I am going to tell myself that something was “meant to be”. Let me rewind this back.

The Squatch and I had a conversation prompted by my parents putting their dog to sleep. We discussed never getting another dog once Misty passes. Especially never a puppy to tear things up and pee on the floor. We like to travel and it is hard to do with pets. That’s when the world laughed at me.

Not many days after our conversation, my Mom called. She works at a vet’s office and one of the women there runs a dog rescue. Do you see where this is going? She rescued a 10 year old American Eskimo, and since we have an 11 year old American Eskimo “don’t we want another one?”. Yes, yes we do.

As soon as we walked in to get our new dog, Polar, he looked up at us, walked over turned around and sat right on the floor in the midst of us. It was as if he was saying “this is my family now. I’m going with them”. He took to the kids right away, like a big gentle teddy bear. Misty and Polar became buddies immediately. It took a few days for him to adjust to the cats, (and he still likes to chase them on occasion), but he just meshed.

Four weeks after bringing him home (Christmas Eve), Misty started acting funny and she vomited. We thought it was something she ate and just kept an eye on her. We also had company that week and figured all the new smells and people she didn’t know were freaking her out. As soon as our company left, we took her to the vet for bloodwork. She was in kidney failure. We were hoping to maintain it with fluids and medication, but she didn’t seem to be getting any better. My mom decided to test her for Lyme Disease on the off chance she had it. Sadly, that test was positive. We added antibiotics to her daily regimen of medication and fluids, but she couldn’t keep them down. As she got sicker, her blood pressure spiked and she lost her vision. She was a fighter through all of it. She never even let us know she was a little sick until that night on Christmas Eve.

That was almost a month ago, and sadly, today, we made the decision to say goodbye to our Misty. She took a turn for the worse yesterday and we just didn’t feel her quality of life was worth living anymore. She couldn’t walk or even go outside. It was too much for her to even hold her head up for a drink.

It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But, I feel like a huge weight was lifted.

Now, I know why Polar is here. He needed to be here, so Misty could go. She has been our protector for 11 great years and she didn’t want to leave until she knew we were in good hands. Or paws as the case may be. Once she knew that, she allowed herself to succumb to her illness. I know it all may sound crazy, but I truly believe Polar was “meant to be” our dog. He came when we needed him most.

We’ll never forget you Misty.

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