| Brady - my angel baby
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:08:24 +0000 - from Clara
In May 2008 I got an email from Janice who volunteers/coordinates for IMPS in our region. We had recently adopted Max (formerly Sunny) an IMPS Min Pin who had been fostered in poor conditions and were working hard with his vets to get him healthy. Janice knew that we already had three ‘pins, but I had expressed interest in perhaps getting one more, preferably an older, special needs dog that would be difficult to adopt out. At the time Janice called me, Brady (then Brad) had not yet entered into the IMPS system. All she knew was that his owner had died of a brain tumor and that a family friend who owned a kennel was keeping him, but that they needed to find him a home fast or he’d be off to the local pound…. She sent me a couple of pictures of Brad. In them I saw a very small black and tan min pin with a pleading look in his big round eyes. That day I went home and told my husband …. But before I could get the entire story out, he flat-out said “NO, no more dogs”. Frustrated, I printed one of the pictures of Brad and stuck it on the refrigerator with the following written in a cartoon-style quote bubble: “Hello, my name is Brad… please save me, I only have three days left…”
A day passed with no comment from my spouse. The next day was Friday and in the afternoon I received a call at my office: “Where is the dog now?” (I knew I had won!) --- the next day we went to “visit” Brad… hubby wasn’t making any promises about taking him home… but when we walked into the play room at the kennel and the little guy with the perky gait and sniffly breathing sounds walked up to him, my husband was a goner…. “We can’t leave him here, he’s coming home with us now.”
That is how Brady came into our lives. His story was a sad one – apparently his owner had had terminal brain cancer and had been moved around for a few years among her relatives, as her health declined. Brad, her littlest dog, went with her throughout, while her larger dogs were adopted by various family members. When she finally passed away, no one in the family wanted Brad and due to his age (and probably his health as well) the family were going to put him down, until a friend of the deceased woman offered to take him into her kennel and to try to find a home for him. He was nearing the end of her charitable offer when we showed up to claim him. So Brad came home with us and on the way he agreed to a slight name change: he became Brady.
Brady had a multitude of issues – a few visible and most completely internal that we did not learn of until after several visits to the vet. It was clear when we got him that he had some kind of infection in his mouth or sinuses. His eyes were cloudy and crusty and he sneezed rather too much for it to be normal. His anal area was excessively swollen and stuck out like a little torpedo and he had one testicle – apparently the second one had never dropped and was herniated… His initial appointments were to clear up the infection so that he could undergo dental procedure to clean his teeth and also neutering and expressing of his anal glands. The antibiotics seemed to work well enough for those procedures to be done; during his dental cleaning, as the years of tartar were scraped from his teeth and gumline, one by one nearly all of his teeth FELL out. When all was said and done, he had just a couple of fangs and a molar or two left in his mouth. The doctor also informed us that he had a rather severe birth defect in the form of a hole in his soft palate that made it very difficult for Brady to eat or drink and swallow without getting food or drink into his air passages. She was amazed that he had not suffocated early in life because of the size and location of the hole. This also explained his gurgly sounding breaths and most of his sneezing and wheezing. The neutering went well, but the anal procedure was horrific. Years of hardened material had built up inside his anal glands and the doctors had to work hard to soften it and inserted tubes into the glands to flush them out; they then filled the spaces with antibiotics. X-rays showed that the infection in his teeth and gums had worked its way into the bone structure of his snout and over time it had eaten away at the bone, leaving it fragile and looking more like swiss cheese. This explained Brady’s extreme sensitivity and his dislike of being touched in the face. His eye infections were treated and cleared up nicely – but years of poor care and malnutrition showed because the whites of his eyes were yellow, and the doctor said that it wasn’t going to get better or change.
But the most devastating diagnosis was yet to come. A few months after we had adopted him, Brady developed a kidney infection. When the vet took x-rays, she discovered that his lungs were filled with fluids and his heart was enlarged. The numbers from his bloodwork combined with the x-ray views made the diagnosis simple: congestive heart failure. We were told that there was no cure for this – that all we could do was medicate and make him comfortable and give him the best care that we were willing to offer. By this time the little guy had worked his way into our hearts. There was something different about Brady. Oh sure, he was a Min Pin, like the others… but Brady had a little something extra or different in his personality. It was as though he understood every word that we spoke. He became very attached to me and would accompany me everywhere. In time, he would sit up and howl if I were absent or away from his side for too long… He learned to communicate his needs to me and I learned to read his body language and expressions and sounds, so that I could tell when he wanted to go potty or for a walk or when he was uncomfortable or quietly suffering in pain… I knew when he needed help getting up or down stairs, or when he needed lap time, nap time or snuggle time. Brady got along fine with the other dogs, but soon it became clear that he considered himself to be my protector. At night, while I slept beside my husband, he would sit in the bed, awake and alert, with his head facing the bedroom door – and he would not sleep until after we got up to go to work for the day. When I had an accident and was homebound for several months, Brady considered himself to be my personal assistant and he stuck close to me like white on rice. And when I lost my job and was home for months and months, Brady became my little angel baby. He had lots of nicknames – we called him “frijolin” (free-ho-leen) which means “little bean” because he loved to take his meds in a dollop of mashed beans… He was called “pedorrin” for the little clouds that came out the other end after he ate the beans… I called him my little piece of poo, my little piece of love… because he was so little and so fragile… lol… but most of all, he was my Angel Baby, because he had appointed himself to be my little guardian angel and he watched over me and brightened my days.
A few weeks ago I started a new job, after nearly a year of being at home with my Brady and the rest of our Min Pin nation. While I was relieved to start working again, I immediately felt the loss of his company and wished that I could take him with me…
During my first week at work I noticed that Brady’s appetite was dropping off significantly – so much so that by Wednesday I was calling the vet, and on Saturday we brought him in to be seen. They kept him for a few hours, checked him out, took x-rays, did bloodwork, and when we picked him up the vet gave us a prescription for a renal diet that she thought would be good for him. She said his numbers looked good. Over the next three days we watched Brady closely. We started him on his new food which (thank goodness!) he loved and ate happily. His energy was fine and he seemed to be resigned to my absences. Tuesday night was a normal night like any other. We got into bed and when my husband complained that the dog was preventing him from snuggling his wife, for some reason I replied: “honey, Brady needs me right now, so let’s just snuggle him together.” That night I fell asleep like so many other nights, with Brady nestled in the crook of my arm, his little head resting on my shoulder and body pressed against my side.
The next morning, when my husband got into the shower I reached for Brady, who had migrated during the night to my spouse’s side of the bed. I sat up to look for him and when I saw him my heart sank and I knew instantly that he was gone. I went to pick him up and his body was still very warm. I hugged him to me, heedless of the bloating of his belly or the wetness from his bladder having released itself after he breathed his last breath. My heart ached and I felt a hole open up that I knew would never be filled again. My Angel Baby was gone. That was January 26th. Brady gave me nearly three years of his life – and I wouldn’t trade a single second of the time that I had with him. I wish he were here with me now, and I miss his shiny, silky coat, his perfect little paws and the little gargling sound he made when he tried to growl…. I miss his sneezes and his pleading looks, begging for a piece of steamed broccoli or sweet potato, two of his favorite foods. Most of all I miss his presence – knowing that he is with me, being able to care for him and make him feel comfortable and safe and loved. He has crossed the rainbow bridge and left our hearts forever changed.
In memory of Brady, my wonderful husband and I quickly decided to adopt an older, special-needs Min Pin (I think my husband wanted also to find some way to plug that hole in my heart and find a way to stem my tears). And that is how Prince the Min Pin has come into our lives. Prince was something of a celebrity Min Pin when we adopted him from Janice, the IMPS coordinator who had previously led us to Max and Brady. And part of adopting him meant agreeing to keep up his FaceBook page and allow him time with his many fans. Most days I log on to FB with Prince in my lap and we post his messages… and we have posted a few photos, too – of Prince and Brady and Max and our original Min Pin kids, Oscar and Cecilia, who opened our world to the wonder and joy of living with and loving these amazing and special little guys and gals. If anyone is interested in following Prince’s adventures, please do look him up on FaceBook. Just enter a search for ‘Prince the Min Pin’. And to anyone who is considering adopting a pet, please give some consideration to adopting an older dog, or even one with special needs. The love and the joy that you will discover with these unique and often overlooked pets is indescribable – and is well worth the time and effort and any cost of owning such a dog.
I will always love and remember my Angel Baby, Brady
Clara
(and Claudio (spouse), Max, Oscar, Cecilia, Prince (aka Min Pin Nation), Francesca(Russell Terrier), Socrates (Shih Tzu) and the four cats who wish to remain anonymous)
February 18, 2011
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It was June 4th,2004. We had had a home visit and been approved. My Daughter Jodi and I drove to Auburn, WA to get Rocky. A volunteer named Vicki told us what she could of him. We changed his name to Buddy. He had been taken from a home where they used him for bait to train Dogs to fight. He had had a rough first 18 months. He never got over his fear of bigger dogs he didn't know well. He always attacked first. He was very smart and loved to run. He had full run of our farm. My Daughter took him to her apartment when she moved out but he hated it. Barked if she left him so she brought him back home to me. Buddy was sick last week Friday October 28th,2011 and I knew it was bad. When I took him to the vet she said his gallbladder was not working. We made a plan to take him to a specialist on Monday. He hated going to the vet. When we got him home my Husband went outside and Buddy followed him out. When he turned around Buddy was gone. It was 2:30 and we searched until after midnight in the pouring rain. I posted on every site I could looking for him after I came in that night. When a local volunteer Jacqueline heard he was missing she brought a friend Danny and searched. Danny found him. He had hidden and died from his illness. It brought me much needed closure. I had been within 3 feet of him and he hadn't responded to my call. THANK YOU JACQUELINE AND DANNY. RIP BUDDY 2002-OCTOBER 28,2011.
