Scooter
In 1998, my wife and I rescued “Scooter” a lemon and white patch beagle from a local animal shelter. We fell in love with him immediately, and the first three years of his life were full of fun and joy for all of us. At about 3.5 years of age, Scooter began limping and became very lame in his hind quarters. We were crushed to find out that he had a form of canine lupus, which required steroid treatment to manage his pain and joint inflamation.
Over the next 18 months, Scooter had good days and bad days. The steroid treatments compromised his little immune system, and he contracted pneumonia on 2 occasions. I can still remember him in that little hyper-barric chamber at the vet’s office, his nose cannulated, as he cheerfully looked through the glass at my wife and I as we visited him.
He looked as good as new, but we knew that outside the chamber Scooter would succomb to the pneumonia. Eventually, the oxygen and antibiotic therapy weren’t enough and Scooter expired while we were on our way to visit him one last time. We’ll never forget Scooter. We have a clay casting of his paw print and his ashes on our fireplace mantle to remind us of what a wonderful little dog he was.
Great one – Thanks for doing what you do everyday, and thanks for the opportunity to celebrate these gifts form God that we call “dogs”.
Chris from MD