Dogs

Two and a half years ago, our beautiful 10 yr old husky began having seizures.  We took her to the vet and they gave us meds for her but unfortunately they did not work.  It was a quick demise as the seizures got closer and closer together and a little part of her was gone with each one.  We had her euthanized on February 10, 2009.  She was such a part of the family and we grieved a big loss.  God is good and decided to bring us joy in the midst of our grief and David arrived 3 weeks early on February 13, 2009 just three day later.

Fast forward to now.  We have 2 new puppies living in our home, an 8 month old border collie/Australian shepherd mix that belongs to my son Josh and a 5 month old black lab that we are training to be a diabetic alert dog for Bekah.  2 nights ago at about 3 AM,  Josh came running into my room in a panic saying his dog was having a seizure.  It was a long day Saturday as poor Kihembah had 6 more seizures inside of 18 hours.  We took her to the vet after the second one where they did blood and bile testing and sent her home.  After 3 more seizures much closer together, Jason and Josh took her to the animal hospital.

My heart is aching as this experience is so reminiscent of when we lost our beloved Dakota and I feel so helpless.  This is one of those things that I can not protect my son from.  His poor little heart is breaking for his puppy. 

The boys came home at about midnight last night and had decided to let the vet try giving her meds and observing her all night.  If this doesn't work we can't afford to do more for her.  We couldn't even afford to do that much but we have generous family that loaned us the money.  The vet called this morning and said that Kihembah has not had a seizure in 12 hours and she is responding well to the medication.  Thankfully anti-seizure meds for a dog are pretty cheap because she will have to be on them for the rest of her life. 

In the midst of all of this stress, Sarah (Bekah's dog) has been my therapy.  Most people think of labs as large dogs and for the most part they are.  The breeder we went through breeds for scent recognition and size is not his goal.  He is meticulous about his breeding protocol and for one reason or another many of his labs have ended up on the small end (50-60lbs full grown).  Sarah was the runt of her litter and is still pretty small (24 lbs at 5 months old).  She fits on one side of my lap so I can hold a child and the dog at the same time.  We have been sitting and rocking and just petting our sweet dog.  When Josh came home from the animal hospital he got Sarah and held her and played with her for a bit.  I love that our sweet little mini-lab is helping all of us through this.  She has a duel purpose indeed =)

This is the most recent photo I have of both of the puppies.  They are resting nicely in their crates.  Kihembeah is about 36 lbs so you can see that Sarah on the right is a petite little girl.  (We love her that way, she has a big spirit and Bekah can pick her up plus she can share my lap with the kids) (the mess in the background is David in a box fort sleeping as well)