Timid rescue sheltie

Well, I'm going to try to make this short, as I don't want to cry all over my keyboard.

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to Apollo after about 13.5 years of love. Timid as he may have initially been, once he gave his love to me and my wife...he was all in on us as we were on him. He was so handsome and sweet. Everyone that met him loved him, even if he was always a little wary of strangers.

According to the birth date associated with his chip, he was 17 and 3 months. I believe he was just too happy to not live a few extra years to make up for his first few miserable years. I hope he was able to forget those days.

Until the past few months he had really still been in pretty good health. I had always been concerned about his joints after my previous sheltie Dakota had developed bad arthritis and had mobility issues by 11-12. Apollo was still able to jump up on the bed/couch and run around. I'm thankful for that. His hearing was almost completely gone, and his eyesight was also getting worse, though he wasn't blind. His teeth unfortunately we also pretty bad. But his overall well being was pretty good, and he still seemed happy.

Unfortunately, he started having some issues with collapsing, believed at first to be seizures but now believed to be due to complications from a heart & oxygen issue. He had multiple collapsing episodes in a day for the first time Saturday and then a major one during the night Sunday at 3am. We took him to an emergency vet about an hour away, but after they did chest x-rays it was shown that he had a collapsed trachea and enlarged heart. He wouldn't be able to be off oxygen for long without issues, and for my wife and I - putting him through lots of scary treatments, or dying on a surgeons table just wasn't how we wanted Apollo to spend his last days. He had a long life, and we wanted him to be happy when he went...not scared and confused.

We are grateful to the team at this clinic (VCA of Fishers Indiana) who helped us through the difficult choices, not pressuring, not rushing decisions, and being very compassionate. They had a room with a couch and chairs where we were able to sit with Apollo like any normal day. Him in between us on the couch. And that's how he left us.

Our heads hurt from all the tears, but I'm thankful to Apollo for sharing his love and life with us. It was just all too short, even if he lived another 17 years.

One a side note, there was another sheltie parent at the clinic in the wee hours of the morning with a beautiful girl suffering from seizures. I hope they were able to get a treatment for her that will work. I think she was 11. I pray she'll get more time, she looked very sweet.

Thanks everyone who was here at the beginning to help me through those difficult days of trying to earn Apollo's trust and help him overcome his terrible past. And prayers for anyone else going through the difficult time of losing their little furry loved ones.

 

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

My wife and I told everyone the famous last words that we would not be getting another due to the inevitable heartbreak.

But...we started looking at rescues a few months ago, found a few we thought might be good fits for us, but they didn't work out.

We are now planning to go see a black & white sheltie puppy at a breeder this weekend.

Of course, we still miss Apollo. I did some ugly crying just a couple days ago. But I guess we are going with the old adage that it's better to have loved & lost than to never loved at all.

If everything works out, maybe I'll come back and make a thread for the new puppy. It's been a LONG time since I've had a puppy, since Apollo was already an adult. House training & puppy energy seem a bit daunting at the moment, but...it'll be fun too...right?