R.I.P

It's taken me a while to write this post, I've been putting it off mainly because it's sad. I guess writing it, makes it "real"!  A little over a week ago we lost our beloved dog Bella.  She was young, would've been 7 in July.  She's been terribly sick over the last year and her quality of life was steadily declining.  Deciding to put her to sleep was one of the hardest decisions we've had to make.  I know some people think of pets as "just pets", but not us.  We've always thought of our pets as part of our family.  Steve has had it especially hard because the 2 of them were unseparable!  He was also the one who took her in and he said it was bittersweet.  He felt so guilty because he was the one doing "it" and was afraid she didn't understand, but then he was glad in a way that he was there to hold her as she took her last breath.

Bella was diagnosed with diabetes last summer, but the Dr suspected she may have had cancer.  Her blood was "off", some of it was due to the diabetes.  She had a big lump on her tail that they couldn't get fluid out of (which is not a good thing).  But we could never get her diabetes stable enough where her Dr. felt good about putting her through surgery.  She went blind, weeks after being diagnosed with diabetes and became very depressed.  Recently it seemed as though she was just sick of being blind?  Her kidneys also started to fail and she would urinate in her sleep, that was the final straw that made our decision.  Even though she's a dog, it's still not very dignifying to have that happen.

It made it extra hard for me because Bella has been an original "staple" in our lives.  We got her right after we bought our first house together (we still currently live in this house), we had her before we got married, she was here when we brought both our babies home etc.  She's been here from the beginning of the start of our lives together, and that makes it extra hard for me :-(

So, now that some time has passed, we've been able to turn our views a bit and start to realize that we did the right thing even though it's still sad and we still feel guilty!

Bella Craig 7/26/04 - 3/8/11

The day she was diagnosed with Diabetes...
look how chubby she was!

siblings

BEST FRIENDS

Her last day with us...lost so much weight :(
She started out at right around 13lbs, when Steve took
her, she was 5.5.

look how much she changed, she lost most of her hair
due to an adrenal disease she developed as part of the Diabetes.

it's hard seeing this...

...instead of this

and this...

...instead of this

poor Simon has been so lost,
he didn't eat or drink for almost 4
whole days after she left

Still very sad and scared of everything!


We love you and miss you very much Bella.
  You were an amazing dog.

Rest In Peace sweet girl :-)