Tressy is my best friend.. my 4 legged best friend. She's been through so much with me since I got her in 1999. She's a well seasoned traveler and everyone who meets her falls in love with her. She's so loveable and cuddly. I've only seen her growl and get serious about biting someone 2 times. The first was in Maine when 2 men came walking down the hill and she was trying to get away and was going to bite them. She wanted them no where near me. As soon as they were out of sight, she calmed down and wanted to lick and jump all over anyone else that came around. The next time was my old boyfriend in Arkansas' baby sister. Tressy would growl and snap at her everytime she came to the house.
She'd never been sick until recently. After moving to Colorado I took her in to the vet after she started having a cough. She got her rabies shot, an update on her parvo and I had them test for heartworm. A few days later they said she tested positive for heartworm and to bring her in the next day for xrays and additional blood work to see how bad her infestation was. The night I found out about the heartworms, she started coughing almost none stop and to the point of gagging. The next day she could hardly breath and the coughing continued. The vet thought she was having an allergic reaction to the heartworms and gave me predisone for her breathing and antibiotics. The next day she got worse and he told me to take her to an ER vet clinic 20 miles away. She was so bad they had to help her walk back to the treatment area. She was put on oxygen and given a shot of morphine. It was almost 3 hours before I could see her. My roommate called and came by with her boyfriend to check on Tressy. She was hugging me and crying about Tressy being so sick. The first vet I talked to said she didn't think Tressy would make it through the night but to call and check on her throughout the night. They are a 24/7 365 clinic but oooooh so expensive. They wouldn't keep her until I put down a deposit on her bill. I was able to get approved with a credit company for a card with $600 limit and they used that as my deposit. They quoted me a total just for 24 hours of $1200 to $1500.
My best human friend had been texting me on my cell phone to get updates on Tressy. He was waiting online when I got home and spent 2 hours talking to me to get details and to make sure I was ok. He told me he'd be on the next day to see how she was.
When I went back I brought her home against their recommendation. She really liked one of the vets and he walked outside with me and let me know to tell the local vet to call him and he'd tell him what treatments to give Tressy so I could save money.
They believe she has a heart disease that happens in large breed dogs like dobermans. They say they think she is having congestive heart failure and all they can do now is keep her comfortable and when we can't, put her down. She has been a fighter and now that I have my king size bed up compared to the twin she's even more happy.
When she does pass, my best friend and I discussed and decided what to do with her ashes. I'll cremate her and put her ashes in a cedar box with a wolf painting on the lid. It's one that I got when he and I were camping in Wyoming in June and Tressy was with us. It was the last place she got to run wild and be totally free and she was so happy. We thought it would be appropriate to have her ashes in that box.
I just hope I have her with me for a long time yet...
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