I apologize for my weekly updates on this past summer stretching to four weeks. I promise I’ve been trying my Dougest to keep up with this story.
Two weeks into the summer, Joy the Puppy passed away, and I am still very much not ok.
Knowing this day would come, I wrote about Joy in February of 2023…
JOY THE PUPPY ON FINCH DVM -
http://www.finchdvm.com/blog/2023/1/31/4r6b8iy2v0wd33lwnh0jpm03qevja3
Joy passed away Mother’s Day weekend of 2023 while I was living at Mom and Dad’s, a week after we gathered at Piedmont Park where Russ had brought us both so we could spend time together.
I missed her terribly living apart from her then, and I miss her now.
Russ was with me at Mom and Dad’s Mother’s Day. He went home in the morning to check on our oldest Blue and the pets.
Russ got home, and Doug and Periwinkle greeted him at the door. For the first time in his life, Doug did not have a toy in his mouth to show Russ. He instantly knew something was terribly wrong.
For the next two months, Doug would greet us at the door as always, but never with a toy in his mouth as he always had before.
On this morning, Doug led Russ to Joy. She was curled up on the middle of our bed. She had been placed on a life long furniture ban by her orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tan, so Russ had cut all the legs off our bed and nightstands months before. She had recently been placed on a stricter ban when even the small step up to and off of our bed became a fall risk. She was pissed as hell about that, though we made sure there were safe and fluffy floor-level places to be everywhere in the house.
One of my favorite things about Joy is that she always did what she wanted. The night before, our bedroom door had accidentally been left open. That Joy got up on the bed because no one was there to stop her still makes me happy. It brings me comfort to this day that she passed away in her very favorite spot, even though she was no longer allowed there without supervision.
When Russ reached her, Joy was curled up in the middle of our bed where she had fallen asleep. She had passed away sometime during the night.
Joy was well known for her large number of non-fatal illnesses. But we could tell she was getting tired. Her kidney disease was progressing. She had been hanging in there though. The night before she passed away, for the first time, she did not eat dinner, but she spent the evening on the deck with the kids. They said she stared at the stars and seemed content.
God I miss her.
