3 posts tagged “gus”

In memory of Gus, January 10, 1993 - January 16, 2007

 

Today was a hard day for me, as we knew it was time to put Gus to sleep.  Over the last 8 months, Gus' back legs have been deteriorating and it has been very difficult for him to get up and walk.  On Sunday afternoon, he really could not walk well at all and he had no interest in food.  Over the past 48 hours we were having to carry him to the yard on the striped blanket above and then carry him back into the house.  Last night he started growling at us and getting upset when we tried to help him.  I called a traveling vet, as we knew that there was no way that we could get him in the car to go to the regular vet.  I was extremely apprehensive about putting him to sleep, mostly because I knew how much he hated vets and I did not want to hurt him today and have that be his last memory of me.  God was good, as the vet that came was very gentle with Gus and did not hurt him at all.  He used a comforter to cover his head and gave him a tranquelizer to calm him down a bit.  About 10 minutes later, Gus was calm and the vet put a soft muzzle on him.  The vet, my mom and I knelt down next to Gus.  I was petting Gus on his side and my mom was petting his head.  The vet gave him the shot in his front paw and 10 seconds later, at 11:12am, Gus took his last breath.  The vet went inside to fill out paperwork and I sat outside and petted/brushed Gus for about a half hour.  While the vet was filling out the paperwork, he saw a Bible sitting on the hutch and said that he was also a born-again Christian.

I was also thankful that Gus got outside one more time because Gus has been sleeping out in the guest house with me (he pretty much had not left the guest house since Saturday night).  This morning about 9:45 I was out there sitting/crying with him, and he got up on his own and walked to the door.  He ended up walking all the way across the patio by himself and got one last drink out of the pool (he always loved drinking pool water).  He then came and layed down on his blanket and we fed him a tangerine (he was a big fan of tangerines too).  Anyway, I am happy that he was able to walk outside and that we were able to put him to sleep outside since he pretty much owned that backyard.  When I was out there sitting with him after he was gone he just looked so peaceful laying there in the sun.

I am definitely going to miss him.  Being in the backyard is difficult and I know tonight will be a long night out in my room by myself.  Gus has slept in my room with me for the past 11 years and I am going to miss him being out there with me.  I would always hear him in the night licking his feet or just barking a couple of times for no reason.  This is also hard for me because this is the first time in my life that I can remember with no pets.  I think that there was a period of time when I was 2 that we did not have a pet, but we got our cat Skeeter when I was 2 and then in 1993 we were up to three pets, Skeeter, Cedric and Gus.  Skeeter died in 1995, Cedric on February 25, 2006 and then Gus today.

Guser (as I called him quite often), I love you very much and I am going to miss having you here with me.  When you died today you took a piece of my heart with you that I will never have back.  I can't wait to see you again someday (Luke 12:6b). 

Here are some pictures of Gus throughout the years...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a pretty mellow New Years this year, with the highlight of the night being an early dinner with my family at Taneko.  Taneko is a new PFCB concept restaurant which opened in October of this year.  It is a place I would definitely go back to.

 

After dinner, I came home and rang in the New Year with Gus.  As you can tell by the picture, he was not too excited.

Over the last four years, Gus (who is going to be 14! in January) has had what we think are mini-strokes.  The first one happened in March 2003 and we called the vet with his symptoms and they said it could be any number of things but to bring him in.  Well, Gus and the vet do not get along together so needless to say, it was an adventure.  They were able to do a blood test and some other tests, and they said that everything came back normal.  They said that it was probably a small stroke.  One of these mini-strokes has hit Gus about every six-months or so and every time I think we have come to the end of the road.

This last Thursday night, I came home from work and fed Gus at about 7:30pm.  I usually leave him out until about 10pm and then I bring him in my room for the night.  So, went out to bring him around 10, and I could not find him on either patio.  I walked into the backyard and he was laying in the middle of the grass.  There was a pile of barf about 3 feet from him so I knew something was up.  I tried to get him up with a bone and I tried to help him up but he would not budge.  At this point I figured we could be staying outside all night so I got his blanket and another blanket and bundled him up.  I then went and put on another pair of pants over my pajama pants, got a big jacket and a sleeping bag as I was not going to leave Gus in the middle of the yard by himself all night.

I tried to sleep but it wasn't really happening and finally at about 1am Gus stood up!  He walked a few steps but I could tell he was really struggling so I quickly grabbed one of the blankets and made sure it was under him when he layed down.  After he was laying on the blanket, my mom (I had gotten her up to help me with this ordeal) drug him across the yard into my room.  He was happy to get in, I was extremely happy to get inside and he slept great all night.

He stayed in until about 7am before he needed to go out to go to the bathroom, and he was able to walk outside but as soon as he peed he couldn't walk any further.  I was prepared with the blanket underneath him, and as soon as he layed down I drug him a few feet into the sun.  I stayed home from work until 10am, and he was sleeping in the sun.  When my mom got home at noon, Gus had made his way across the yard to the other patio and he was on his blanket over there.  Throughout the day, my mom said he was back and forth a couple of times.  He continued to make improvement yesterday and today and he appears to be back to where he was pre-Thursday night.

 

I know that my time with Gus is getting shorter and shorter, but I am thankful for the additional time I have been given with him. 

On a side note, I will post a general update (yes, Kelly had a good idea a few months ago) in a few days since my posts have been non-existent for the last couple of weeks.