A very quick 4 weeks after diagnosis, we said our final good byes to our beloved Millie dog.

About 15 years ago, a friend told me that her husband's friend had to evict a tenant & when he went to check on the house, he had found that they left their dog behind. He wanted to take her to Animal Control but couldn't get close enough due to her growling and snarling. So me, my friend and her husband drove over there armed with various leashes, a crate, a catch pole and some bacon to try to save this aggressive beast.

What we found was a very terrified 8ish months old Dalmatian puppy! After shooing her into the basement and blocking off all hiding places down there (she kept going behind the toilet in the doorless partially finished bathroom), I was able to slip a lead over her head & quickly gained her trust with the bacon! One taste & she followed me very willingly to the car and went into the crate like it's something we'd done every day.

We had a health scare December 2012, and I thought I was going to lose her at a little under 13 years old, but after a week of debating whether or not to put her through major surgery at that age, I decided to have her spleen and its tumor taken out. The gamble paid off! She came home after just one night and was back to her old self within about 3 days time. AND her tumor was one of the very rare occurrences of a splenic tumor being benign! 

Then in July/August of 2014, a limp that I thought was part of her arthritis became more and more pronounced. On August 27th, my world came crashing down. An X ray confirmed what I was suspecting, and I again was faced with the decision to put Millie though major surgery, one that would likely only buy us a couple more months. I reluctantly decided against it. Two years a go, she had no other issues but more recently she was showing signs of arthritis and her liver values had been creeping up. & I just wasn't sure how well she'd do as a tripawd.

This past week she was showing signs of increasing pain, and yesterday we had a friend come to the house to free her for good.

She has already sent me a new Dallie to help. This morning there was an email from the rescue we foster for & a young deafie needs a place to hang out for awhile. She already has a home, but it's not built yet & the adoptive mom did not want to try (or maybe wasn't allowed) to add a 3rd dog to the apartment where she is living during house construction. Regan arrives mid day tomorrow & we are very excited!

Even though Millie never became an official tripawd, this community's support really helped me cope. I wanted to thank you all so much and wish all the tripawd babies & their people much luck in their continued journeys. I'm sure I will still pop in here & there!