Mark,
Our little Buddy Ripley had to be put down on February 28th after 14 AWESOME years of fun love and loyalty. We adopted him on Christmas Day of 1993. Runt of the litter but special to no end. It was a very hard decision. I remember going through every emotion you did in your your book. The guilt of not knowing if you did everything you could can eat you up inside. We had a GREAT vet in Dr. Murphy who was Ripley’s vet for over 9 years. He had seen him through everything. Near the end Ripley had lost his hearing and most of his sight, but was very happy, but when the sores started to form we knew his days were few. We are going through our time of mourning now and will be looking for a new furry family member in a couple of months. Thank you for writing this book, it really helped me deal with this better then I could on my own. I’d also like to thank Dave for giving me this book and knowing it could help during this hard time. He is a true friend of the canine family.
Gary from VA

Hi Mark,
My story is about a very special cat named Max.I was thinking I would like a male this time around since I had recently lost my female cat thru diabetes. I found Max thru the local newspaper from the daughter of the original owner. The daughter told me her mother had passed away and she promised she would give Max to another single woman who would love him. When I first saw Max for the first time, he walked right into the cage as if to say, take me home. well I did, and I had him for a year in a half by the day! On Januuary 13, Max woke me up with a big huge cry. He coudn’t breath and he was very cold. I rushed him to the vet and was told he had a blood clot that moved to his extremities, so therefore he couldn’t walk He had had a heart attack. Max was so wonderful, he had a personality everyone loved. I have a hard time with this because Max was always there for me. I will never forget the look on his little face when he looked at the vet as if to say, can you fix me? He laid there so calm, so sweet and patient, then he was gone. I have pictures of him, but I can’t send them due to not having the right equipment on my computer. By the way, Thank you for being there for all of us every night. The first time I heard you I knew I would listen forever. Thanks for listening, and letting me share my story.

Diana from MI

Mark I haven’t as yet had the chance to purchase your book but rest assured I will own that book soon. From what I gathered you also rescued your Sprite. We rescued our Rosie. She was just a mutt, a puppy that my wife saw pouncing around in a rather over grown hay field. She was near some of her dead litter mates. Never knew what happened to the mother. My wife screamed that I had to stop and she literally jumped out of the moving vehicle and ran to grab that puppy. Rosie was just skin and bones and I thought she might not make it. But, she did and she became the joy of our lives. She looked like she had some German Shepherd in her and some other things as well. The other things were what got her and we didn’t even know it.

When Rosie turned 5 years old she began to cough a lot. One day as we were playing outside I threw her ball and she ran after it as usual. She suddenly began to stumble and stagger as if she were drunk. I had no clue as to what was wrong with her but she recovered quickly. I sort of let it pass until I saw it happening more often. I took her to my school mate who had become a Vet. Bruce took a look at her and told me he was going to do a blood test but he saw immediately that she had heart worms. He said she could live for years longer or die in a few days. My heart sank. She never complained never whimpered she just looked at me with trust and love in her eyes. He said he was going to try something with her. He was going to give her a really low dose of heart worm medicine and see if he could kill off some of the heart worms and not kill her at the same time. I asked him how I would know if she was in real distress. He said she would begin to cough and begin to pass out without running. (more…)

Our 14 year old black lab Bogey passed away very suddenly three weeks ago. I have always thought I would always be with her in the final moments of her life. I researched vets that would come to the house if I needed to put her down. But she left this world without me there and I am so very upset because of it. She was always there for me and I wasn’t there for her. I’m not sure what else I could have done. We have two boys ages 4 and 2 and it’s been so hard giving everyone in the family time, especially her. And I don’t even work! But she was there for me through so many things. I will always remember her next to me in bed under the covers because the house was to cold or walking her in parks where dogs were not allowed and hoe she failed puupy training and yet turned into to the best dog anyone would love to know. Her live was the greatest. She was my number one. Them I had two bioys and she was put on the back burner. She understood. And when her time to go I was not there. It makes me so sad. I have always has family pets growing upi. But she was mine. All mine. Before husband before kids. I hope she kwows how i feel about her.

PS Mark Love your show. I just don’t think a lot of American understand what is happening in our country. You want healthcare sure! No one understands that someone has to pay for that and all the other entitlements the libs want to enact. Anyway, sorry for my rant.

Elaine from MD

Mark–I bought Rescuing Sprite just days before we had our Airedale, Ginger, put to sleep. I had happened to read just a couple of sentences from your book and got the feeling that you had struggled about making the decision for Sprite, and that your words might have significance for us. It has been two months since Ginger left us; I finally got up the nerve to read your entire book today. Our political views could not be much more different, I believe, but your sadness affected me profoundly. Liberal or Conservative, we are all human, and it is true, dogs are the best.

Noelle from CA

Mark–I bought Rescuing Sprite just days before we had our Airedale, Ginger, put to sleep. I had happened to read just a couple of sentences from your book and got the feeling that you had struggled about making the decision for Sprite, and that your words might have significance for us. It has been two months since Ginger left us; I finally got up the nerve to read your entire book today. Our political views could not be much more different, I believe, but your sadness affected me profoundly. Liberal or Conservative, we are all human, and it is true, dogs are the best.

Noelle from CA