I just finished Rescuing Sprite … a wonderful and heart-felt story about a bond between pet and man. I’m more of a cat person … we found “Samantha” when we were stationed near Frankfurt Germany … as the kids grew up, she watched over them as if they were her kittens and waited for them to come home from school and never considered herself a cat. She was a black cat and in form, she passed away (16 years old) in our bedroom at midnight on a Friday the 13th. Like you, I was torn with having her put down. The vet was a co-worker and recommended a 50cc bolus of Ringers Lactate every few days to extend her life. She did not like getting poked with a large bore needle and we just let time run its course … she did not appear to be in pain, but the night she died, I held her wrapped in a blanket, listening to her purr. I packed her on ice and drove her from Pope AFB in NC to Edisto Island SC to bury her in our yard … where she loved to sit and watch the world go by. As you mentioned about Sprite … and hearing him breath from time to time, I often see her out of the corner of my eye … then I look and no one is there. We have rescued another black cat since then and recently, a tortoise shell tabby adopted our family and promptly had 3 beautiful orange-tabby kittens … homes were found for 2 and we kept the Mom and 3d kitten. All have been spayed/neutered and have great homes and are enjoying their new family.

All pets are special .. for the unconditional love they provide and the joy they bring to a family.

Best of everything with your pets and the success of your book.

V/R

Col Charlie Tupper from SC
USAF

I loved Sprites story. We are huge animal lovers and have had the three dog show going for many years now. Our first “Socks” the border collie is still with us at 12 yrs old, “Beethoven” the black lab passed at 15 yrs from heart problems and our beloved “Nixon” the golden retreiver passed at 10 yrs from cancer. His death last year was very hard because we did not have time to let it all sink in. After beefy ( for short) passed we were not going to get any more pets and I got a call, my cousin was driving home from Atlanta and saved a little guy on 65 dodging Semi’s crossing six lanes of traffic. We have had Emet ( Eight Miles from Elizabeth Town) for 4 yrs now. Opal came to live with us several weeks after Nixon died. I found a Golden who needed a home on Petfinder and called. Well long story short, the foster family decided to keep him but the animal control officer who runs the rescue had a lab a something who she had adopted out once needing a home ASAP. We could not say no. So life goes on with the three dog show. Some think we are crazy. All of our animals have been unwanted by someone else. We love them so much and in return we get loved each and everyday.

Many people have asked how we named our original “Three”. Democrat, Independent and Republican. Of course this trend has ended.

Lori from KY

My father died or end stage lung disease in 1984. Over his last few years he sat exclusively in a chairbeing too breathless to lay flat. My collie Brandy,then 10 years of age,always looked for the coolest place in our old hot house to lie down. Somehow the connection between my father’s cold blue legs were made. Day in and day out he would lie on my father’s cold feet. This relationship lasted my dad’s final three years. Withinmonths they were both gone. I still cry when I think of them together.

Anonymous from WV

Hi Mark,

We lost our Dog KC of fifteen years this past October. I have never been as heart broken over the loss of a pet and I am still not over it yet. I found out about your book Rescuing Sprite listening to Rush. I ordered your book the same day. I though that it would be a two day read for me and after three weeks of reading I am on page 158. I read until I can’t see anymore do to the tears. I am amazed of what Sprite went through and how it sounded like our situation. Thank you for your incite and God Bless.

Chuck from AZ

Hi Mark,

Let me first say I enjoy your show and I am about halfway through with your book. It is already hard to hold the tears back as I read about Sprites deteriorating health. I am a 51 year old retired Air Force Master Sergeant, and it is hard not to shed tears as I read.

Anyways, it has been almost 10 years that my wife and I said goodbye to our sweet dog Katy. I still regret the day I did this. We got Katy as a pup. She was a mix Golden Retriever and white German Shepherd. We had her for about 5 years. When I retired in 1998, my wife and I moved from Missouri to Michigan. Because we were going to lease a house, we had to find a new home for Katy. They would not allow us to have a pet in the house we leased. Before we left Missouri we found a good home (so we thought for her). An elderly couple wanted her through the pictures and bio we had sent out. They had her for only a short time and it did not work out. So Katy went to a rescue center. She was adopted by another family, but for only a short time. Katy’s problem was she did not get along too well with kids. When she was a pup the neighbor kids would tease her, coax her over to the fence, then kick the fence and yell at her. So Katy grew up not liking kids too much. (more…)

Hi Mark,

I’m so sorry you lost your Sprite and I loved the book (I finished it a few short hours after I got it). We just lost our German Shepard, Emma (December 5 at 10:30 p.m.). We rescued Emma when she was a pup — she was the runt of the litter, very shy and this “breeder” was going to put her down. We had her for almost ten years. This past summer she developed an autoimmune disorder where her body was attacking her red blood cells (to an almost fatal level). She was admitted to the emergency vet hospital (Veterinary Referral and Emergency Center in Norwalk, CT — I very highly recommend this place they are great). And, after about five days they great people at the hospital brought our Emma back to health and we were able to bring her home on Halloween. She had a great five weeks, but on the 5th of December she went downhill fast. It wasn’t her red blood cell count this time — it was something else: her heart was racing and her breathing was very different and her mouth was clenched shut. (The vet told me that she most likely had a stroke and there was nothing anyone could have done). I knew in my heart that it was Emma’s time and I wanted to give her a chance to die at home, rather than rush her to the vets and risk her dying alone there or having to put her down. My husband, Matt, got home at 8:30 that evening and Emma was lying on her favorite bed at her favorite spot in the house (behind the sectional in the family room — this was Emma’s den). Matt sat next to her and was petting her (I was outside with our other five dogs). He called for me, but when I got inside, she had already died. Matt told me that she lifted up her head, gave him a kiss and gently died. I prayed to God to please take Emma and spare us of having to do the deed, and He did.

God bless you Mark

Ingrid from CT