I had 14 at one point, but I lost 4 of my furbabies in 6 months last year. One, my Gizmo....the daughter of Cujo. We got Cujo to keep Cinnamon company after Kamikazi died. Well since she could not be fixed because of reoccuring pyrometria..... They ended up having a litter in 2006. Well... Cujo got fixed RIGHT after that happened as it was never my intention to breed him. So.... we had 6 puppies that were born.... on my birthday in 2006 to Cinnamon and Cujo. Sadly it ended up killing Cinnamon. I probably would have been on here dealing with her passing and feeling terribly guilty about it, had I not had 6 tiny Chihuahua babies to feed. They are worse than kids because as soon as you feed them you have to stimulate them to go to the bathroom. Which is not a problem... but doing this for 6 puppies... by the time you finish... it is time to start all over again. Well... we had Gizmo for a long time and she was my baby. We almost lost her in 2014 when one of my fosters attacked her. Being a small 5 lb dog.... she was thrashed about pretty badly, but 8000 later.... she pulled through. And worth every cent. Well, on 9/11/2017, I came home to her barely clinging to life laying on my bathroom floor. She was not injured in any way. She had been fine that morning. She acted completely normally that morning. SO I can only assume it was something sudden like a heart attack or an aneurysm.
About a month after her passing, we found out her father Cujo had cancer. It was a massive and very aggressive tumor on his spleen. We spent 3000 to have surgery and have his spleen removed. The doctor said he was sure he got good margins and that all would be fine. He had been anorexic recently and we brought him in and found out there was a mass in his tiny stomach. The mass ended up being a 1.5 lb tumor which is huge in a 6 lb dog. Sadly, he lost his fight to cancer on 2/1/2017.
6 weeks later I lost my 2 lb chihuahua Mosquito to heartworm. We knew she had heartworm when we adopted her. We had her on the slow kill method because the vet said that her liver values were too high and her heart murmur was too strong to do the fast kill method. So basically we knew she was terminal when we got her, but she lasted 2 years before she claimed her wings.
And then lastly we lost our cat of 24 years to old age on 4/3, only 2 weeks after we lost Mosquito. Boots had a great life though.
So I sit here today.....thinking back about all of the babies I have lost. I know that most of my group will be following eventually. I only adopt the special needs or elderly dogs now. Mostly because I figure they are so hard to place and deserve no less of a chance at a happy home than a puppy. Just because they were abandoned or abused or what ever... they are no less worthy of happiness. That and since I am about to hit my 50s.....I dont want to have a lot of dogs that someone has to place if I gain my wings. So... as my aging brood leaves to wait for my at the rainbow bridge, I will attempt to not replace them.
But I find myself thinking back to my Kamikazi frequently and thanking him for starting me on my road to being a dog lover. I always thought I was more of a cat person until I saw his little face. But because of him, I have helped many dogs and cats have a better chance at life.
BTW... I would like to thank this site for being so helpful when I was going through my grief. I dont know if I could have made it without this site.