Mark – I’ve been a fan for quite some time, but until I heard you on Rush’s show today, I didn’t know about any of this. I, too, am an obsessive dog lover. In fact, my wife and I support the local Italian Greyhound (IGGY) rescue group. At present, we have 8 IGGY’s and three other dogs, for a total of 11. In May, I lost my favorite IGGY to chronic kidney failure. He, like your Sprite, was a fighter. He was up and down for the last six months of his life. The last two months, he had to go to our vet once or twice each week and receive a saline IV to flush his kidneys, since they couldn’t function properly by themselves. Of course, he had some down days, but outside of that, he was alway happy and excited about life. In his last days, he loved to go outside and just lay down in the grass and warm himself in the sun. He would stay out there for as long as he could stand it, then come inside and cool off. Few people understood why we went to such trouble (and expense) to take him to the vet every week, and they often told us we should put the dog down. I knew my beloved Tucker like one of my own kids, and I knew when it was time to go. His last day was a Sunday, and he had a particularly hard weekend. He had been having trouble keeping his food down (we even had to feed him with a syringe many times), and it was time when he drank some water and threw it up almost immediately. From that moment, he pretty much gave up. We called the vet, and he was out to dinner. He said he would call us back in about two hours. Those last two hours were spent just holding him, talking to him, and remembering all of the good times we’d had together. Listening to you today on the show brought back all those memories. I cried, then I smiled remembering Tucker and all the great times we had. I appreciate what you are doing for dogs. I’m headed to Border’s to pick up your book.

Jay from IN