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Well, what can one say about her? It wasn’t my intention to keep a puppy from this litter, but unfortunately this little pup was very ill a day after she was born and we didn’t expect her to survive. We had difficulty in maintaining her body temperature and in getting her to feed. She had numerous trips to the vets and was bottle fed every 2 hours. Eventually following yet another trip to the vets, a small tear in her oesophagus was found. This was repaired when she was 10 weeks old and she hasn’t stopped eating since!! She gained a kilo in the first week and is rapidly growing now.
My grand-daughter Shannon couldn’t bear to part with this little puppy - she had been there at her conception, she missed her birth by a minute and has helped to bottle feed and care for her. I have decided that Shannon is to help me look after her with me. They have formed a very special bond and I hope this will continue for many years to come. She is a very confident and loving puppy - especially after being handled so much. She is also very obedient - well at the moment she is! Tilly has passed her Bronze Kennel Club Award and will be working towards her Silver.
Kelly found it very difficult having two young dogs and two children and so it was with great reluctance we decided to try and find Tilly a new home where she could have more time and attention devoted to her. We were so fortunate to find her a lovely home on a farm through another puppy owner. Tilly found it hard to settle and to be honest wasn’t the easiest of dogs to care for. But all credit to Simon and Kim they persevered and came to love her for who she was. After a couple of months Tilly became ill with a cough and was taken to the vet where it was initially treated as Kennel Cough. She did not response to treatment and it was decided to investigate the possibility of her throat trouble recurring. As she was being examined for anesthetic, it was found that she appeared to have a heart problem. Simon & Kim phoned us and asked if we would take her back as they had her to replace their old dog who had only recently died and didn’t feel they could cope with another sick dog so soon after the last. We went and collected her and couldn’t believe how much weight she had lost. We immediately took her to our own vet who confirmed her heart sounded very strange and made an appointment for us to see a specialist. We took her the following day and she was given a thorough examination and heart ultrasound. The diagnosis was a deformed Mitral Valve. There is no surgical procedure for this condition and she was given medication. This appeared to be working fine and the specialist was very pleased with her 3 weeks later. Shortly after that, she deteriorated again - very lethargic and not eating, so we took her back to our vet who has now prescribed another 2 types of medication. If this medication didn’t work, we were told that we may have to make the awful decision to end her suffering the following week. Amazingly the medication worked very quickly and she started to eat and gain weight again. She looked happy and was enjoying life but we are still having spells when she doesn’t eat and looks very depressed. She is very hard work to look after and although we know she has only a very short life ahead of her we obviously want her to be able to enjoy it. So unfortunately it is never far from our minds that the day may come soon when we have to say goodbye to our dear Tilly.
I suppose in hindsight, we probably tried too hard to save her life in the first few days - we fought Mother Nature and thought we’d won - but there was obviously a reason why she wasn’t thriving like the others and maybe we should have let her go then. But saying that, we don’t think she is suffering at all and is a lovely girl who does still like occasionally to play. We will do all we can to make her life happy while she is here at home with her family.
August 2008 - Tilly appears to be losing weight again. her appetite is very poor and her energy levels are very low. Appointment was made with the vet - we had a good discussion and we had always agreed that if her quality of life was not what it should be, then that was the time to call it a day - it was a joint decision which we had always asked for. Tilly’s life was not good - although she appeared to be happy, Golden Retrievers should enjoy their food and walks - both of which she wasn’t and it was hard to see her just laying down for the majority of the day. She very occasionally played and did bring you a toy - especially when Shannon and Jake visited, but she couldn’t have been satisfied with her life and we thought she was beginning to suffer so we made the decision to give her peace. The vet came to our home and she fell asleep in Kelly’s arms and me stroking her - so peaceful and dignified.
So, Tilly, go and find Megan over the Rainbow Bridge and wait for us all there. as I’m sure we’ll all meet up there sometime in the future. Dad - look after her for me. Although you never met her, she’s Ellie’s daughter and such a beautiful, sweet natured girl and we are devastated to have lost her so young - so keep her safe and love her as much as we have done here. We hope that she is now fit and well over the Bridge and can enjoy herself the way she wasn’t able to here.
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