Roo
05-13-2014, 10:12 PM
Let me start from the beginning. We knew we had to bring Java home when, after a series of dogs was paraded before us, she was the only one who ran straight to us and had that “pick me, pick me!” attitude. Surprisingly, she was actually reluctant to get into our truck and head to her new home; she didn’t want to leave the Dewitt animal shelter. I think she was afraid of being tossed back out into cold Syracuse winter with no food to eat. She cried all the way back to our place, but it didn’t take long for her to realize she had her forever home.
We had shared one pet before her, a rabbit named Thumper. Cute as he was, the love you have for a rabbit is not reciprocated in the same way that a dog adores its family. Java was special, she was our first and only child. She was our “we’re pretty sure were not having kids so-let’s-get-a-dog”. Sure, my parents have owned dogs, but this was the first time Dave and I had been responsible for raising one on our own. This was painfully obvious after the first time we left her alone. We went to see “Shakespeare in Love” on Valentine’s Day, 1999. I could speculate that Java didn’t approve of our taste in movies, (perhaps rightfully so) because when we came back the house was completely ransacked. It looked like a burglary had taken place. The blinds were torn down, the phone cord was ripped out of the wall, and things were strewn all over the floor. I soon learned what separation anxiety was, and found that as a puppy she would need to be crated for a while before she could be trusted to be on her own. She finally quit chewing up couch cushions and burying remote controls at the age of 2-1/2.
Nothing in this world mattered more to her than her “pack”, which of course included us, her adoptive parents, but also her extended family, both canine and human. One of her proudest accomplishments was escaping from our house while our neighbors were having a BBQ. She found a hapless child sitting on the ground and stole a hamburger from the paper plate he had balanced on his lap. I was not lucky enough to witness this spectacle, I only saw a sheepish looking Dave carrying our ill-mannered canine home, and she had a huge doggie grin from ear to ear.
I will miss her constant companionship. It didn’t matter what we were doing, she just wanted to be involved. Just before dinnertime, she would move herself to the kitchen area so that she could have a view of the meal being prepared. Anything that fell on the floor was fair game…not just meat, but carrots, pepper tops, melon, ice cubes…she has an interesting palate for a dog. I was growing onions outside and had to dig them up because I found out she was eating the tops. When she was young, she actually used to climb up on the couch to get between us, I guess she was worried there was not enough affection to go around…she wanted to be in the center of it all.
A few years ago she tore her left rear ACL while playing ball. She went through surgery and a long healing process, but eventually she was back to playing ball again. Then Java had another crisis in 2011, when she developed Cushing’s Disease. She went through a very risky surgery to remove the tumor from her adrenal gland, thanks to the skilled hands of Dr. Bookbinder. Recovery was long and difficult, in the beginning I had to hand feed Java to help her get her strength back. Java persevered and once again was back to enjoying walks and playing.
It was always in the back of our minds that Java was living on borrowed time. The survival rate of dogs that have Cushing’s Disease is about two years post surgery. Sure enough, Java started developing more problems at age 15, though not related to Cushing’s disease. She tore the right rear ACL, but now she was too old and frail for surgery. She started getting heavier because she could no longer go on walks that she loved; her knee was basically bone on bone. On top of this, she started to develop kidney disease. While the ACL healed, her leg never really did. She walked with limp, and aged dramatically, looking and acting much older now that she could no longer do any of the things that she loved.
Last time we took her vet, we were trying to find out why she kept having bladder infections, and why she was so anxious all the time and could never get comfortable, and needed to relieve herself every 30 minutes. We also knew she was in a lot of pain because she had so much trouble getting up off the floor, and even her tail was crooked from arthritis. We had her on pain meds for a while but were advised that it was going to take a toll on her kidneys We put her through two courses of antibiotics and there was no change in her symptoms or behavior. In an attempt to get a urine sample, the veterinarian discovered on an ultrasound what looked like tumors in her bladder. The next step would have been biopsy and staging and chemo drugs.
We had to ask ourselves, would all of this improve her life, or would it just extend it? Sadly we knew the answer to that, and we made an appointment for the vet to come to our house at 5:50 PM on May 13th,, so she could finally have some relief. Rest in peace, Java…thank you for the richness you brought to our lives. We will never forget you.
We had shared one pet before her, a rabbit named Thumper. Cute as he was, the love you have for a rabbit is not reciprocated in the same way that a dog adores its family. Java was special, she was our first and only child. She was our “we’re pretty sure were not having kids so-let’s-get-a-dog”. Sure, my parents have owned dogs, but this was the first time Dave and I had been responsible for raising one on our own. This was painfully obvious after the first time we left her alone. We went to see “Shakespeare in Love” on Valentine’s Day, 1999. I could speculate that Java didn’t approve of our taste in movies, (perhaps rightfully so) because when we came back the house was completely ransacked. It looked like a burglary had taken place. The blinds were torn down, the phone cord was ripped out of the wall, and things were strewn all over the floor. I soon learned what separation anxiety was, and found that as a puppy she would need to be crated for a while before she could be trusted to be on her own. She finally quit chewing up couch cushions and burying remote controls at the age of 2-1/2.
Nothing in this world mattered more to her than her “pack”, which of course included us, her adoptive parents, but also her extended family, both canine and human. One of her proudest accomplishments was escaping from our house while our neighbors were having a BBQ. She found a hapless child sitting on the ground and stole a hamburger from the paper plate he had balanced on his lap. I was not lucky enough to witness this spectacle, I only saw a sheepish looking Dave carrying our ill-mannered canine home, and she had a huge doggie grin from ear to ear.
I will miss her constant companionship. It didn’t matter what we were doing, she just wanted to be involved. Just before dinnertime, she would move herself to the kitchen area so that she could have a view of the meal being prepared. Anything that fell on the floor was fair game…not just meat, but carrots, pepper tops, melon, ice cubes…she has an interesting palate for a dog. I was growing onions outside and had to dig them up because I found out she was eating the tops. When she was young, she actually used to climb up on the couch to get between us, I guess she was worried there was not enough affection to go around…she wanted to be in the center of it all.
A few years ago she tore her left rear ACL while playing ball. She went through surgery and a long healing process, but eventually she was back to playing ball again. Then Java had another crisis in 2011, when she developed Cushing’s Disease. She went through a very risky surgery to remove the tumor from her adrenal gland, thanks to the skilled hands of Dr. Bookbinder. Recovery was long and difficult, in the beginning I had to hand feed Java to help her get her strength back. Java persevered and once again was back to enjoying walks and playing.
It was always in the back of our minds that Java was living on borrowed time. The survival rate of dogs that have Cushing’s Disease is about two years post surgery. Sure enough, Java started developing more problems at age 15, though not related to Cushing’s disease. She tore the right rear ACL, but now she was too old and frail for surgery. She started getting heavier because she could no longer go on walks that she loved; her knee was basically bone on bone. On top of this, she started to develop kidney disease. While the ACL healed, her leg never really did. She walked with limp, and aged dramatically, looking and acting much older now that she could no longer do any of the things that she loved.
Last time we took her vet, we were trying to find out why she kept having bladder infections, and why she was so anxious all the time and could never get comfortable, and needed to relieve herself every 30 minutes. We also knew she was in a lot of pain because she had so much trouble getting up off the floor, and even her tail was crooked from arthritis. We had her on pain meds for a while but were advised that it was going to take a toll on her kidneys We put her through two courses of antibiotics and there was no change in her symptoms or behavior. In an attempt to get a urine sample, the veterinarian discovered on an ultrasound what looked like tumors in her bladder. The next step would have been biopsy and staging and chemo drugs.
We had to ask ourselves, would all of this improve her life, or would it just extend it? Sadly we knew the answer to that, and we made an appointment for the vet to come to our house at 5:50 PM on May 13th,, so she could finally have some relief. Rest in peace, Java…thank you for the richness you brought to our lives. We will never forget you.