TRIBUTES: Minnie
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Minnie
2001-2/21/2004
She brought us love and joy and we will miss her very much.
Thank you to everyone at BRLA and BABR who made it possible for us to enjoy two wonderful years with Minnie. She came to us as a very sick little girl with kidney disease, but she lived two very happy and healthy years in our home. Even though she came to live with us as a medical foster, we took her into our home and she became one of the family. She even got to spend some time in Colorado and Arkansas and drive across the country to our new home in Pennsylvania. She was a joy to be around and gave us unconditional love. We will miss her bouncing around the house, playing with toys, jumping on us and the other dogs, snuggling up to the cats, going for walks, and playing in the snow. We look forward to that day when we are reunited and she gives us lots of big kisses.
Here is the story of how Minnie came to live with us.....
On New Years Day 2002 I received an email from Cindy with BABR asking for help for a boxer in Los Angeles. My husband and I and our two dogs were a foster home for a year while we lived in the Bay Area, but we had recently moved to Southern California and hadn't fostered in a while. I am still on Cindy's mailing list though and I like to keep up on what is going on with rescue. Cindy frequently helps to place boxers from LA even though she has lots of dogs looking for homes in Northern California.
Back to the email I received, for some reason this boxer's story touched my heart and called out to me to help. BRLA was looking for a permanent foster home for an eight month old, brindle, female, who was had been diagnosed with renal dysphasia. The vet had said that he only expected her to live a maximum of one to two years. Because of her prognosis she was back in the kennel and it looked like the chance of someone adopting her was pretty bleak. They felt that she deserved a better quality of life, to be in a home with a family.
When I read Cindy's email, I just knew that we had to take her in. I went to my husband and asked if he would be willing to get me another Christmas present. Of course he gave me a strange look and asked me what I wanted. What I wanted was to foster again, specifically to this poor little kidney dog. Surprisingly, since we had lots of other stuff going on, including two dogs and two cats of our own to take care of, and since he is the one that works from home, he told me that if I really wanted to do this we could. So, after communication with Cindy up north and Ursula at BRLA, we put our dogs in the car and headed for LA. Luckily the holiday traffic was fine and within a few hours of reading the email, we arrived at BRLA. The kennel was an experience itself with about eighty beautiful boxers all hoping that they were the ones going home. Ursula brought Minnie out and she bounced right over to us. Her name was perfect because she really was a mini boxer. When we picked her up she weighed about 30 pounds and just looked so tiny. We were given medication and special food and we told Ursula that if it didn't work out we would bring her back the next week.
Of course it worked out and Minnie was with us for two years, I can't imagine those two years without her.
She gained five pounds and was full of energy and life. The first couple days were tough, trying to get her to eat, letting her out very often since she drank so much water, and comforting her when she wasn't feeling well. Once she is eating, you couldn't even tell that she was sick. She settled in and became one of the family. She loved to get attention from us and curl up next to us wherever we were, but she also loved to play with the dogs and cats and could be found curled up with Jazmine, our boxer. On the first couple of walks we took her on she would wear out quickly and just want to stop and lie in the shade. Once she was healthier and developed stamina, she got excited when we got the leash out and could go for two long walks in a day and still come home and run around the house playing with toys.
If you would like to see lots more pictures of her and learn more about Kidney Disease you can visit her website at http://pages.ivillage.com/skyesm/minnie.html
Thanks again and God Bless.
Skye and Pat MacCarthy
