It is with great sadness we write this post. If you are an animal lover you will understand.
If you follow our blog in our last post there is a picture of our beloved Buddy in the desert just outside of Las Vegas. It was a great day and it was all we could do to contain Buddy to keep on the lease. As we climbed the rocks he was pulling on his chain to stay way ahead of us.He was having a ball. A few days later he was vomiting and had a loose stool. We decided to take hime to a vet since there was one just down the road, and we may not be close to one in the next few days.
The vet drew blood, all OK, and prescribed a few meds. We moved to Palmdale Ca. 3 days later. and Buddy seemed a bit better. 2 days later he had a Seizure that lasted 5 min. Lonna rushed him to the nearest vet 5 miles away but they were not able to handle his problem. So rushed him to the next closest vet 40 miles away. They admitted him and started him on anti-seizure meds. They kept him 2 days to make sure the meds were working. We were in this area to see the Rose Bowl parade which was very cool to see up close. We checked the internet and found out the side effects of the sickness pills from Vegas had a possible seizure side effect. We were not told this. Buddy went 3 days with no seizures, then had about 20 small ones on that Sunday. We had moved to Indio Calif for an FMCA motorhome rally. We took Buddy to a vet there, as he was going down hill very fast. He was falling over and just standing in a corner. The vet pumped some fluids into him and he seemed a bit better.
The vet was hoping he would be better in a couple of days. By the next morning he was even worse, and 10 days and $2000 after the vet in Vegas we had to put our beloved Buddy down in Palm Springs CA. He truly was a member of our family and a great traveling companion. Everyday things remind us of him and it's hard living in the motorhome without him. Time will heal. I know that we rescued him at 1 year old from a bad home and we were so blessed to have him for the last 10 years. I am clinging to God's promises that in Heaven we will have the desires of our heart. My desire to to have Buddy there waiting.
Buddy's favorite two positions. Sleeping and relaxing while sleeping.
Just a quick note on these as it was a great experience but with my Buddy being sick, it wasn't a very fun time. We got up at 4am because we were really worried our 45 min plus drive to Pasadena might be crazy hectic and we didn't want to have issues with parking or missing it. The parade started at 8am and we were in Pasadena and parked by 5:30am. That accounts for leaving the coach by 4:30am too. The most interesting part of the whole parade was all the people that had been camped out on the sidewalks all night. Sleeping on blowup mattress, bean bag chairs, livingroom chairs, blankets, tents, and so many kids. For many this is their annual event and so they make a huge deal bringing coolers, and propane heaters to make it bearable. The parade was so beautiful in person, but I do miss the announcer on TV giving all the extra info. I was texting my sister-in-law who was watching it on TV. She was a float about 30 minutes before we saw it and there were many that were not on TV that we saw. Beautiful day and warmed up nicely. Then we rushed back to the Vet to check on Buddy.
Palm Springs and Indio (connecting cities - actually there are many connecting in that area) was a beautiful desert oasis. The cities and almost every yard had beautiful green grass and tons of flowers. They really know how to landscape. There was some film festival in town and supposedly all the Hollyweirds were in town. It was nice to be able to find just about any store in the US right there. Not like driving 30 miles for a Wal Mart. We attended an FMCA convention (Family Motorcoach Association) were we volunteer for Security with our Beaver Motorhome friends. It is easy duty about 3 hours a day at an assigned post. God was really watching over us, that when we had to face the hardest day with Buddy, there were many friends and hugs all around. We even had a GodWink. Buddy was put to sleep at 11am and at 3pm our friends Pam & Bob had their daughter/grand daughters visit them at the rally. The 2 granddaughters had recieved a puppy for Christmas and could not agree on a name in the 2 weeks they had him. On their way to visit, both of the girls decided on Buddy. We had never met them and they knew nothing about our Buddy. It made me cry (of course) and know that it was God saying Buddy would go on. Praise God!
They had a wildlife preserve with desert animals of North America and Africa. First Big Horn sheep we'd seen - ever.
