It is with extreme sadness that Candy and I must advise you of the death of our beloved little cocker spaniel Bumpers. She was put to sleep at 3:00 PM on Thursday May 6, 2010 by her veterinarian Dr. Lynda Zucca of All About Pets in Citrus Heights.
Bumpers came into our lives in November 2004 after the death of our cocker spaniel Penelope. Her name then was “Lady”, and was about eight years old when we adopted her from Bay Area Animal Rescue Kennel (BAARK). “Lady” had been found wandering the streets and had been dropped off at BAARK some six months previously – she had been abused and was fairly malnourished (she weighed about 18 pounds), and she was totally blind from years of uncared-for cataracts and glaucoma. During her stay at BAARK, Lady was spayed. A couple of days subsequent to our adopting “Lady” we learned from her ophthalmologist that this poor little dog had been blind since she was about a year old.
The first night after we adopted “Lady” we watched her navigate around the room and we instantly renamed her Bumpers.
Bumpers became our little joy – she was very easy to care for and was always in excellent humor, very patient with us as we learned how to work with a handicapped dog. We quickly fell in love with our little dog.
Although the people at BAARK told us the dog didn’t play, Candy quickly found Bumpers did indeed like to play, and Candy and I would sit on our lawn some distance apart and alternately clap our hands while Bumpers would run back and forth between us to the sound of our clapping, enjoying the snacks and wrestling when she arrived at her destinations.
Over the years we found Bumpers traveled very well and she required very little attention, except for the 2-3 times daily administering of her eye drops and daily feeding. She usually let us know when she had to go outside to do her ‘business’ by standing in the laundry room or by the sliding door in the kitchen area.
Bumpers loved to take daily walks – I would take her on walks past the tennis courts, where a couple of the guys would usually stop playing tennis in mid-game to come talk and play with Bumpers.
Everybody loved Bumpers.
Bumpers started going deaf about two years ago, but she still was a pleasure to be with. She would know we were near by our scents, and she would know we were talking with her by the vibrations from our voices. We loved on Bumpers each and every day she was with us.
About 6 months ago Bumpers became ill with pancreatitis, gall bladder and liver disease. And her arthritis and hip and shoulder dysplasia became more painful. We had her on numerous medications for her internal issues and on acupuncture for her joint issues. Bumpers took her meds and her acupuncture in stride, but her illnesses were merely slowed in their progress. In early April Bumpers began eating less and less and her body was becoming emaciated. We had to start spoon-feeding her, but she had very little appetite. She was having considerable difficulties getting up, and to lie down she simply fell down. She preferred lying on the cold tile or hardwood floor because the coolness kept her belly from being too hot. Also in April Bumpers had a couple of severe seizures for which we started giving her megadoses of calcium. The calcium helped, but last week she had a couple of incidents where she coughed and collapsed – Dr. Zucca said those were probably caused by blood clots passing through her heart. On Tuesday of this week Bumpers refused to eat any food, and we drove home from Phoenix on Wednesday with her still refusing any food. We knew the end was near.
On Thursday, May 6th we took Bumpers to All About Pets, we conferred with Dr. Zucca, and we agreed it was time to say good-bye to our little girl. She had been sick and in pain for too long and she deserved to die with dignity. Almost all the staff and groomers at All About Pets came into the room to say good-bye to Bumpers. They all patted her, some kissed her; one of the technicians brought in a piece of peanut butter fudge someone had made for the staff. She gave it to Bumpers who ate it and seemed to really enjoy it.
Everybody loved Bumpers.
When the staff members had left the room, some in tears, Dr. Zucca asked if we were ready and we said we were ready to say good-bye to Bumpers. Dr. Zucca injected Bumpers with a drug to relax her, and Bumpers started to snooze, even snored a little. Then Dr. Zucca gave her the shot that ended the life of Bumpers. Bumpers was somewhere between 13 and 14 years old.
We have so many wonderful memories of Bumpers – we are going to love our little girl Bumpers forever and we are going to miss her forever.
2 comments:
Dear Friends;
It is with extreme sadness that Candy and I must advise you of the death of our beloved little cocker spaniel Bumpers. She was put to sleep at 3:00 PM on Thursday May 6, 2010 by her veterinarian Dr. Lynda Zucca of All About Pets in Citrus Heights.
Bumpers came into our lives in November 2004 after the death of our cocker spaniel Penelope. Her name then was “Lady”, and was about eight years old when we adopted her from Bay Area Animal Rescue Kennel (BAARK). “Lady” had been found wandering the streets and had been dropped off at BAARK some six months previously – she had been abused and was fairly malnourished (she weighed about 18 pounds), and she was totally blind from years of uncared-for cataracts and glaucoma. During her stay at BAARK, Lady was spayed. A couple of days subsequent to our adopting “Lady” we learned from her ophthalmologist that this poor little dog had been blind since she was about a year old.
The first night after we adopted “Lady” we watched her navigate around the room and we instantly renamed her Bumpers.
Bumpers became our little joy – she was very easy to care for and was always in excellent humor, very patient with us as we learned how to work with a handicapped dog. We quickly fell in love with our little dog.
Although the people at BAARK told us the dog didn’t play, Candy quickly found Bumpers did indeed like to play, and Candy and I would sit on our lawn some distance apart and alternately clap our hands while Bumpers would run back and forth between us to the sound of our clapping, enjoying the snacks and wrestling when she arrived at her destinations.
Over the years we found Bumpers traveled very well and she required very little attention, except for the 2-3 times daily administering of her eye drops and daily feeding. She usually let us know when she had to go outside to do her ‘business’ by standing in the laundry room or by the sliding door in the kitchen area.
Bumpers loved to take daily walks – I would take her on walks past the tennis courts, where a couple of the guys would usually stop playing tennis in mid-game to come talk and play with Bumpers.
Everybody loved Bumpers.
Bumpers started going deaf about two years ago, but she still was a pleasure to be with. She would know we were near by our scents, and she would know we were talking with her by the vibrations from our voices. We loved on Bumpers each and every day she was with us.
About 6 months ago Bumpers became ill with pancreatitis, gall bladder and liver disease. And her arthritis and hip and shoulder dysplasia became more painful. We had her on numerous medications for her internal issues and on acupuncture for her joint issues. Bumpers took her meds and her acupuncture in stride, but her illnesses were merely slowed in their progress. In early April Bumpers began eating less and less and her body was becoming emaciated. We had to start spoon-feeding her, but she had very little appetite. She was having considerable difficulties getting up, and to lie down she simply fell down. She preferred lying on the cold tile or hardwood floor because the coolness kept her belly from being too hot. Also in April Bumpers had a couple of severe seizures for which we started giving her megadoses of calcium. The calcium helped, but last week she had a couple of incidents where she coughed and collapsed – Dr. Zucca said those were probably caused by blood clots passing through her heart. On Tuesday of this week Bumpers refused to eat any food, and we drove home from Phoenix on Wednesday with her still refusing any food. We knew the end was near.
On Thursday, May 6th we took Bumpers to All About Pets, we conferred with Dr. Zucca, and we agreed it was time to say good-bye to our little girl. She had been sick and in pain for too long and she deserved to die with dignity. Almost all the staff and groomers at All About Pets came into the room to say good-bye to Bumpers. They all patted her, some kissed her; one of the technicians brought in a piece of peanut butter fudge someone had made for the staff. She gave it to Bumpers who ate it and seemed to really enjoy it.
Everybody loved Bumpers.
When the staff members had left the room, some in tears, Dr. Zucca asked if we were ready and we said we were ready to say good-bye to Bumpers. Dr. Zucca injected Bumpers with a drug to relax her, and Bumpers started to snooze, even snored a little. Then Dr. Zucca gave her the shot that ended the life of Bumpers. Bumpers was somewhere between 13 and 14 years old.
We have so many wonderful memories of Bumpers – we are going to love our little girl Bumpers forever and we are going to miss her forever.
Paul & Candy List
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