| Dash was born October 14, 2011 in Ryan, Iowa and I knew he was the one immediately. It was 4 years before I was ready to welcome another furry boy into my life, but when I saw him I knew he was meant to be a part of our family. He was so curious and ornery. Within the first few days after bringing him home he got bit by something and blew up like a little ball. That was his first of many trips to EIVC. Everything from possibly ingesting hand soap to full surgery to remove the remnants of a towel he just couldn’t stop from nibbling on. He kept us on our toes throughout his entire life. It was hard for me to be away from him because I was constantly worried about who was looking after him, even at the kennel. When we would go on vacation I would try to make it as short as possible without the rest of the family getting mad at me. The last few years we had to kennel him during the day because we just couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t get into something he shouldn’t. Back in March when both my husband and I were working from home due to COVID, our daughter graduated college and our youngest didn’t go back to school we were able to put the kennel away and Dash never had to go back into one again. We were so glad to have had the last several months to be with him and spend a lot of family time together. In May we found out that he was showing signs of arthritis and we began to notice he was slowing down, but one night we noticed a small mass on his leg, which we found out was bone cancer. We were devastated. Dr. Steen gave us the best advice. “You’ll know when it’s time and remember, don’t wait a day too long.” That night I made a promise to Dash and we discussed what that meant as a family, that no matter how much this will hurt, we won’t wait a day too long. We kept that promise. Those last few days were rough and the final 6 hours we knew what we had to do. When EIVC brought him into the room for us to spend some time with him he was the most excited he had been in a few weeks. He trotted in to us wagging his tail and giving us love. It was his way of telling us he was ready and that he was going to go out on his terms, not being carried or struggling to breathe. We cried, we held him and we made sure he knew he was loved. Our house is quiet and our hearts are heavy. Thank you to Frey and Dr. Steen for the amazing care and kindness they should us and our boy. We know the pain will subside and one day we’ll be able to talk about all the funny things our silly boy did to make us laugh, but for now we are sad and we miss Dash very much. We love you boy. |
