Yesterday afternoon I said goodbye to my sweet girl who fought longer and harder and earned reputations at more vets than any dog I have ever known.
She came to DRSF on April 5, 2016 at approximately 15 years old, as a stray out of Broward Animal Control, where Dr. Bruce’s Animal Hospital diagnosed her as being in the final stages of Congestive Heart Failure, with a mouth full of rotten teeth we couldn’t do anything about, and estimated she had 9 months tops to live. I will be forever grateful that Pam chose me to be her foster Mom and on May 15, 2016 I brought home what I thought was this sick little girl with a whole lot of meds and started the waiting game for what I thought was a hospice foster situation.
It was the longest waiting game ever. Zuri just kept going without slowing down – 6 months, 9 months, a year, she just kept going…..
She paid visits to Cardiologist Dr. Schroeder and his amazing nurse Hector at Leader Animal Specialty Hospital for checkups and to have her CHF meds refilled. Zuri continued battling on and racking up new conditions and frequent flyer miles along the way at other DRSF vets – she saw Dr. De Pompa at Southeast Veterinary Neurology for a rogue neurological issue, and continued on to Pet Medical Center of Boca where Dr. Roof determined her eyes had stopped making tears and so we added 2x daily eye drops to the routine on top of keeping us in abx to pulse dose her mouth to keep her raging case of dental disease at bay. Zuri also earned herself an “aggressive” tag at PMCB while boarding while I was home in PA earlier in the year.
After a 4th of July battle caused one of her rotten teeth to fall clear out of her head with no way to fix the hole in her mouth, when I went to pick her up, I was ushered to the back where I once again found my now 18 year old “hospice” foster in a cage at LeadER marked “aggressive” where nobody there wanted to risk trying to pick her up.
Over the last couple months, Zuri had begun to slow down, and I new the end was coming. She was getting super picky about what she was eating and I thought it was her teeth, so I made another appointment to see if there was a stronger abx we could try. When I got home last night to take her to PMCB I found her in a crisis condition and after taking the longest drive ever to Boca, after doing bloodwork, Dr. Roof gently broke it to me that Zuri was in end stage kidney failure and there was nothing we could do.
Although she had battled for 3+ years she was going out swinging. Her enlarged heart kept right on beating longer than I have ever seen after the administration of the meds to end her battle and then finally she was at rest.
I am forever grateful to our Dachshund Rescue South Florida who provided everything that Zuri needed and all I had to do was love on her. I will forever remember her strong, silent presence, and when the time is right, we will welcome another to fill her spot <3 God speed little girl….you know who to look for when you get there….and until we meet again….
