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[BOXER BULLDOG] STORY . . .
Sunday
March 14, 2010
by: Betty C. Clark, aka, Buster’s ma ma
Buster Clark, would have been 11 years old April 1st, 2010, he died March
11th, 2010, from complications due to his pancreas and liver malfunctions.
The rabies shot he received August 25, 2009, ( the shot was given to him, the
day after our 25th Wedding Anniversary, 08-24-09 ), gave him an allergic
reaction, for 19 days he struggled to get over this reaction, until 9-13-2009,
he had a pancreatic shut down.
The emergency vet, was shocked he lived. He was released to us with a
blood sugar reading of 43, 60 is stable. And we had to design a food/formula
feeding, and intake of Karo syrup percentage per body weight and Prednisone
dosages, to keep him alive from September 13, 2009, until his death March
11, 2010 ( almost 6 months ). Our baby required 4 hour feedings, to keep his
pancreas functioning. We have been told, that most dog’s with this pancreatic
malfunction, had tumors, which caused them in 6 weeks from diagnosis to be
put to sleep. He fought to stay with ma ma and daddy as long as he could.
EMERGENCY VET : 09-13-2009
LOVED KARO SYRUP . . . 9-18-2009 . . . 'DUCK & POTATO' FOOD [Royal Canine]
He appreciated everything his ma ma and daddy did. He was always a happy,
jumping, running, energetic boy, until at 4 years old, he ruptured a vertebra
in his spine, and he could not walk well, or get up and down well, for several
months. With rest and Prednisone RX, he learned to walk again.
And he resumed an aggressive, wide open, lifestyle.
He loved to bark and try to bite the UPS driver, he hated the Brown Truck
motor sound, and he could hear it coming several stop signs away, and he would
get ribbed up and ready . . . to show Brown Truck who is the dominate one. He
did not like cats. Although a cat next door named `Player` was his main buddy.
He had no any idea that Player was a cat. Or at least he made all cat considerations
for Player, only. Black birds squawking, caused him to bite his basketball and
go charging up in the air, to remind these birds who the boss was here on the
ground. He enjoyed fishing with us in Dillard, Georgia for trout fish. Buster
knew when we did not feel well, or when I was about to have an asthma attack.
He would come sit on me, in the bed, all 90 plus pounds, and we called that,
“Giving a butt”. The people feel better from this loving, helpful gesture. When
Dale survived a colon cancer scare in 2001, upon his arrival at home, Buster
immediately started smelling his stomach incision to inquire what had happened
to his daddy. His concern for his people, was an endless show of affection.
At night, he had to be first on the King size bed. If he did not get to be first, he would
by purpose lay in the way to obstruct the last person from having one inch of laying
space or covers, this caused a bed fight, of growling, acting out and macho mannerism’s,
until we got up, helped him get his proper station on the bed, then we were allowed to get
in. (Ha !) And we loved to hear our boy snore, and snore and grunting that he did. What
a beautiful sound !
He could shake hands by giving a paw. And he loved to give kisses, and he
loved to be kissed. In fact, if someone got kissed, he demanded to have a
kiss also. He enjoyed his food, and enjoyed getting rid of gas. (Ha !)
Of course, he was so cute, with that velvet mouth and ears of solid black,
with his red-brown coat, with white markings on two of his toes, on each
of his four paws. We adored our boy, he made us laugh when we had a bad
day. When he wanted food, we kept his scales in the kitchen, so he could
bounce on them, making them shake the floor, to get the people to hurry
and put the food in the blue bowl. He seemed to fully realize that this loud
sound caused us to obey his wishes.
. . . Many other stories, about the life and times of Buster, I plan to write
about, on his blog memorial I am creating . . . To help other dog owner’s
understand some signs of pancreatic malfunction, I have with much grief
outlined a journal of events . . . as follows, to the countdown signs . . .
( Evening ) January 7th, 2010, Thursday, he had a mild 1 minute seizure on the
lounge. Muscle’s jerking, eyes open, `no` urination. Dale & I held him, and
helped to assure him everything was going to be o.k., not to be afraid. He had
over the last 2 years, 2-3 mild seizures, which we thought were related to his spinal
injuries of the past. His vet, Dr. Jeff Cribbs, knew about the seizures and injected
him with the rabies shot, without first Titer testing him. All dogs past 7 years old,
should be annually Titer Tested, to determine if they even need the rabies vaccine.
Make sure your vet is reminded of this fact.
CONSUMER ADVICE :
(The above date (1-7-2010), was the coldest week of the season, the cold weather
was a factor in his blood sugar balance, not staying stabilized. Pet owner’s with animal’s
who have low blood sugar or are diabetic, must understand their dog is already in a form
of hypothermia, before it even gets cold weather, so use doggy shoes with hat and coat,
when the weather is below 50 degrees. Think of your vegetable garden, and use the same
common sense with your garden, with your blood sugar malfunctioned pet)
He resumed all normal activities, bird watching the birds eating from the feeders outside,
while laying on his favorite lounge and window area. His sleep patterns, in between the
4 hour feedings, were all normal. He exhibited a good sense of recovery, . . . until . . .
( Day time ) February 28, 2010, Sunday, he fell sideways in the yard as Dale
was walking him, having a violent grand mall seizure. Dale finally got
him on his feet, able to walk into the house. Dale gave him 3 tablespoons
of Karo, and all his formula feeding, and water. In 2 hours, he was acting
normal, he resumed his activities, which were limited to brief walks to potty,
then right back inside to rest, . . . until . . .
( 10:00 p.m.) March 8th, 2010, Monday, between 6p.m.-10p.m. Buster had
a seizure, lost his bowel’s and urine, when I walked into the house, he could
barely set up, back legs so fatigued he could not stand on them. I gave him 18
tablespoons of Karo, in a syringe that holds 2 tablespoons, administering
9 times in the mouth. He drank water, rested, and was eating duck balls
(Royal Canine, `Duck` Pet Food) in an hour. I slept in the living room, up
and down every 2 hours, feeding him small portions of his formula divided,
which included Karo. He recouped and could walk outside to urinate, in 2 hours.
- - - This continued into Tuesday, March 9th, 2010, day and night, 2 hour
- interval feedings. He was resting good, in between going out to urinate, I
increased his Prednisone RX, to every 6 hours, instead of 8 hours, to activate
his malfunctioned pancreas. Dr. Wansky informed me that his blood test from
Friday (3-5-10), revealed a issue with his liver enzymes. In September 2009, his
liver was normal, with 3 dosages of Prednisone daily, the liver enzymes went from
the 40’s to over 3000 range. His kidneys were perfect, which she said was remarkable
due to the Prednisone dosages. And his stomach enzymes were normal, which was due
to the natural Pro-Biotic food enzyme added to his food daily. His blood sugar level was
62, a range not perfect, considered stable. I went during lunch and picked up the natural
liver vitamin. He did not want to go outside, that afternoon, I had to help pull him up and
down to get him in and out, to potty. I broke his green leash trying to pull him up. Dale
went to Petsmart and got a new leash.
He felt well enough to climb up on his lounge, by 5:00 p.m.
Which I credited to the liver vitamin giving him more nutritional support. Sometimes bulldog’s are just stubborn, and I accepted his rebellion as normal. Dr. Wansky reminded me if the Prednisone was not what had elevated his liver enzymes, it was most likely the pancreatic tumor (she believed he had), had spread to his liver. -
Of course, I did not want to accept this.
- By Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 I noticed he seemed to want to move around from different sleeping pallets, I was still day and night continuing the 2 hour feedings, I had seen an improvement and put him back on his Prednisone RX, every 8 hours (his regular dosage schedule), he seemed restless while awake, however, resting well while asleep. ( In a future article, I will share the proper Prednisone dosage, based on body weight of the dog ). We finished our day with our normal routine, . . . until . . .
- By Thursday, March 11th, 2010, 4:00 a.m., Buster ate his duck balls
- and 3 Tablespoons of Karo, he did not want his dry food, drank water,
- and went out to urinate.
- By 6:00 a.m., he had a severe seizure, lasting 1 minute. I administered
- 12 tablespoons Karo, inside a syringe. He drank water. He went to sleep.
- By 7:00 a.m., he walked out to `do do`, throw up clear liquid and
- `do do` 2nd time, urinated. He sat in the yard a minute, to rest, then I
- helped him back into the house.
- By 8:00 a.m., Dale left for work. By 8:15 a.m., Buster was in a full
- grand mall seizure, all four limbs jerking violently, teeth rattling
- together, eyes starring out/opened, urinated. Seizure lasted 1-2
- minutes. I quickly administered 18 tablespoons of Karo syrup,
- in a syringe that holds 2 tablespoons (9 times), he drank water,
- I washed him down with a warm wash cloth, put clean covers
- under him, from his urination, he calmed down and went to
- sleep.
- By 8:34 a.m., I let Dale know what was happening, and that I was
- going to call Buster’s Doctor (Dr. Wansky). I still expected a
- complete turn around.
- I spoke to Wansky’s office @ 10:04 a.m., Dr. Wansky was in
- surgery, she’d need to call me back.
- @12:04 noon, while on the telephone with Dr. Wansky, Buster
- was in a grand mall seizure, lasted 1-2 minutes, all four limbs
- violently jerking, teeth rattling. Dr. Wansky gave me a mobile
- vet number, that could assist in putting him to sleep if we decided
- to go that route. I hung up, administered 18 tablespoons of
- Karo, in syringe. Third time, since 6:00 a.m ( in 6 hours) that
- he had to have the maximum dose of Karo, to level his glucose.
- I even crushed his Prednisone RX, into one of the 9 syringes, to
- assure his pancreas was being activated. In 15 minutes, he
- sat up, long enough to talk to him face to face on the floor. I
- told him :
Baby boy, ma ma loves you, daddy loves you, Jesus loves you, you are
the best boy in the world, you have been the world to ma ma and daddy,
you mean everything to us, you are the smartest boy, the sweetest boy,
you are our angel, `help ma ma do this baby, help ma ma’ ?
He drank 2 bowls water, I wiped his little face, he wanted to move
to his other pallet, I helped drag him to it, due to his back legs not functioning
and fixed him with his 3 favorite toys : monkey, rabbit and rope monkey, so he
could have them close to his nose, to smell and be secure. He went off to sleep.
@1211, I spoke to mobile unit about putting him to sleep. [Still hoping not to !]
@1231, After seeing all the above signs, that he could not move his back legs,
I asked them to come on to the house.
I called Dale, to let him know they would arrive in 45 minutes, however,
he needed an additional 30 minutes, to drive to us. I put the cell phone
on Busters right ear, so Dale could tell him, “You go on to Jesus, daddy will
be there soon, I love you, I love you, baby boy, etc” . . .
So by 2:30 p.m, all the papers were signed, we sat on the floor by our
boy, kissed him and told him how much we love him, he was already
resting so peaceful, before the injection. From the talk I had with him @1231,
he only raised up once, I said, “Ma Ma’s here baby boy, don’t worry, ma ma not
going anywhere, lay down go back to sleepie-town”. He laid down and went to sleep.
His breathing was already shallow, and restful, before the shot. At the moment
the doctor gave him the shot, Dale said, “Daddy loves you baby boy”. I said,
“You came here an angel, you’ve left an angel”.
They made a clay paw print of Buster’s right back paw, so we would have
his personal signature as a keepsake, forever. They listened to his heart,
confirming it was not beating. They covered his face and body, with his blanket.
The mobile vet, departed.
http://www.infinityp...es/pawprint.jpg
"Go down there, there is something to see”. - - - Camellias . . .
http://i.ehow.com/im...ias-800X800.jpg
Dale and I dug the grave, we laid our boy on his doggy padded bed and wrapped him
inside one of his favorite duck down blue comforter’s. We buried him with all his toys,
cloths and shoes. His favorite little black monkey was laid at his face . And I placed a
little book about God, “God is in Control”, signed inside, `Love ma ma and daddy, we
love you forever and eternity, we will meet you on the other side`.
To: Buster Clark
Dated: March 11, 2010
Born: 4-1-1999
That afternoon, before dark, I walked down to the grave. As I stood looking upward, not downward, knowing our boy was in heaven, I was given a directional instruction (impression) which was, "Go down there, there is something to see”.
So without questions, I walk down there, 'down there' I assumed was toward
the little red shed, area. A good guess, as I looked up and I saw 12 foot tall
blooming Camellias. One tree was peppermint, white and swirl hot pink, the
other solid hot pink blooms.
I said, “Oh my baby knew, ma ma loved Camellias and he showed her where
to look”.
At this point of the story, all the reader’s are saying with a skeptical attitude,
“Oh well, she has gone insane”.
Oh no, I assure you I have not.
First, we have lived at this property for almost a year, I have walked all around
this area I walked down to, never before seeing any bright hot pink Camellias,
tree size. Since Camellias are shrubs up to 8 foot tall, not 12 foot tall, with
single tree trunk’s. My husband has cleared the underbrush and the space is
very uncluttered and organized in its plant materials growing, which were
all natural to the property, when we moved here.
Second, from the road you can now see them blooming, they were not before
his death. In the right zone climate, they would bloom October – March,
if the weather did not nip the bud’s.
Third, the Georgia southern zone prohibits Camellias in March from blooming
due to bud drop off, due to the freeze temperatures we had. These 2 trees are
loaded with opened blooms and buds loaded, without any sign of frost bite.
Last year, I walked many times all around this area cutting blue hydrangeas
for bouquets. These 2 trees are so large, so loaded with blooms and buds, it
is amazing to see them screaming with color, against their evergreen waxy leaves,
where were they last year ?
And by the way, the old species that these belong to, they go back to 150 years
of heirloom quality, with a cottage built here in the late 1940-50’s, the tree trunks have
aged during these 55-60 years.
Again, where were they before my boy sent ma ma, to . . . "Go down there, there is
something to see”.
A special sign, of unconditional love, by our boy’s angel. I placed a Camellias
bouquet on our table, and on his grave. I wanted our boy to know, we understood
to always look toward heaven, looking up . . . to receive a blessing in a time of
sadness.
THE END !
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