I rescued Roo from Sacramento many years ago he had been living at his house his whole life
but his owner died 2 years prior to us meeting. She was an elderly lady and one night she went
outside to feed Roo and she fell down and later died from her injuries.
The daughter of the lady then moves in and blames Roo for her mother's death and decides to
pretend that he just doesn't exist, she kicked him out of his own house.
When I met Roo, my heart just broke in two, he weighed only six pounds,his mouth was
so inflamed from bad teeth, his tongue stuck out and he drooled constantly.
I decided to rescue Roo and I took him home.
I took Roo to the vet for an exam 2 days later and their diagnosis was not good,
he had been so malnourished that there was not much left of him.
He had pharyngitis (strep throat), Stomatitis, ulcers inside his entire mouth
and he had an enlarged kidney, they recommended euthanasia.
Ok, well, I don't agree with making any animal suffer but I had just spent the weekend with Roo
prior to his vet visit, I looked into his eyes and it was so easy to see that all Roo wanted was to be loved. He was in bad shape but the thought of his story ending this way was too much for me to handle.
I told the vet 'no way' and I took Roo home. I wanted Roo to experience what it felt like to be loved
and cared for, if even for a little while I put Roo on a round of antibiotics and pain medication and hoped for the best.
4 weeks later I took Roo in to see a different Vet, he then weighed 10 pounds 14 ounces and he was thriving. He would eventually reach 16 pounds which is a far cry from the 6lbs when we first met.
He still had issues with his mouth but not like before, no drool and his tongue was back in his mouth because the swelling was gone.
The vet said that Roo looked great, she thought that at some point Roos teeth would need to be pulled, all of them but it would have to be later because he had been through too much already.
We actually managed his mouth issues for a long time.
Almost five years later Roo began feeling ill and we thought it was because of his teeth. We scheduled the surgery and they pulled all of his teeth but when Roo woke up from surgery he was blind, he had a bad reaction to the anesthesia. His blindness was permanent.
I was crushed. All I had ever wanted to do for Roo was help him but there he was so scared after surgery and in pain and I could barely even take it.
The following days he managed it better than I did and somehow he began to adjust a little to the sight loss., he would even go up and down the stairs in our house.
He was an inspiration.
But on November 28, 2011 I woke up to Roo being ill again, this time though, something was different, he sat with his nose to the ground and he just looked defeated. The vet thought at this point there may be a tumor or something and said we would have to do all of these tests but I chose to have Roo put to rest that day. The vet gave him a shot that would not take hold right away,...we lived up the road and I was able to get him there and sit with him all wrapped up in his blue blanket and watch him go peacefully as I told him how very much we loved him.
You know, Roo walked in to my life when my life was already full and some how found a place
that just belonged to him.
He is was my shadow, following me from room to room and when I would sleep he was under my chin, always.
He was Mikey's friend too.
When I think back to the time when Roo was out in the cold, starving, sick and all alone, as people did nothing but sit back and watch as he was slowly dying, I am angered and saddened all at the same time and I am thankful that I am not a person with the ability to just look away.
I am also thankful that I said 'no way' to putting Roo to sleep that day when we first met, it only reinforces my thoughts that if you listen to your heart, your heart will always show you the way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roo was put to rest on November 28, 2011.
His presence in our lives is missed every single day.
Roo’s spirit taught me so much about appreciating life…right now.
His sweet soul and kind heart will live on…
for as long as I live, he shall not die.
