Soul mates - my sweet Moses

I don't think one has to have any type of belief to think of very special people or animals as a soul mate. I could be wrong, but even if you do not believe in a soul, I think you can still wrap your mind around what a soul mate is.

Most of the time when I hear the words soul mate it is in reference to a human, usually coming from a heterosexual woman in reference to her male partner. I seldom hear men talk about such things.

This post is about one of my soul mates, Moses, who happened to be a dog.

Moses passed away in July of 2007 at the age of 14. He had been part of my family since November of 1998 when I found him trudging along I-5 in San Clemente, California.

For me it was love at first sight.

Moses changed me. He was a dog that had been severely abused and neglected, yet the first night with me, with no shelter or vet open until the next day, he slept comfortably in my tent. When I would wake up to check on him I would hear this swooshing sound. Not sure of what it was, I soon realized that whenever I would speak to him he would wag his tail.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, this whole intense tail wagging thing would be come part of what people would think of when thinking of Moses. No matter who you were, no matter what Moses had been through and no matter what humans before us had done to him, he would wag his tail with huge effort upon seeing anyone.

Moses was part Coon hound, so combined with his amazing bark and his wagging tail, he was quite the sight.

Moses was pure love. He loved every being he came in contact with. He especially loved humans. He taught me so much about love, and forgiveness.

Sweet Moses! I still think of him all of the time, and every once in a while I look at the spot where his bed used to be, where I last saw him.

A true soul mate. A true love, filled with so many wonderful things.

Thank you for reading.

Rock is improving with acupuncture - Dr. Nancy Tharp

Rock, our schmeagle beagle, with Suga in the background.

I am happy to report that since my last post about Rock, he has had a couple weeks of continued acupuncture and cold laser therapy and he seems to be feeling better.

I have very seldom used our blog to recommend a person (I stick to restaurants!) but I just have to let you all know about Rock's acupuncturist, Dr. Nancy Tharp. For a couple of reasons. First, many of our readers asked. Also, she has totally changed Rock's direction from being close to euthanasia to walking around and in a lot less pain.

For those of you who are reading about Rock for the first time, he is the senior of our family, almost 18 years old. When we got back from vacation he was struggling to walk. Our vet highly recommended Dr. Tharp and a few days later she was in our living room giving Rock treatments.

She does house calls!

Yes, we are still living in the reality that Rock is an old guy. With Dr. Tharp's treatments, I honestly think we can keep Rock in a lot less pain, with the ability to walk, as he lives his last months or year (years would be wonderful of course!).

For those of you in the Denver area who asked, here is Dr. Tharp's information:

Nancy Tharp, DVM, CVA
720.244.2198
vethealingarts@gmail.com
veterinaryhealingarts.com

She does acupuncture and Class IV Laser Therapy. Rock is getting both.

We have really been grateful to Dr. Tharp, and we both very much like her. If you have a companion animal in a similar situation as our Rock is and are in the Denver area, give her a ring.

Thanks for reading, and thank you so much to all of you who have sent love to Rock!

Caring for a senior companion animal

Note: This is another one of those very personal posts.

Mike and I returned home from vacation to our senior companion animal Rock, a 16 1/2 year old Yorkie who in the time we were gone went from being old and not in great shape to being old and in bad shape and not being able to walk.

We all get to this point. Some more often than others. Mike and I certainly have been here before.

As Rock has gotten older he has lost a good portion of his sight and a lot of his hearing (although his hearing always returns when there is food or a treat involved!). He doesn't like going outside to pee as it's a long walk for an old dog with short legs, so he gets out of bed and pees in the hallway or the living room or the kitchen. He can't jump up on anything and gets uncomfortable easy. He never sleeps through the night and one or both of us are up two to three times during the night to take him out and love on him.

It can be exhausting. And we would do so much more.

His attitude and personality and appetite are all at 100%.

His back and legs are not. Upon return from vacation we took him to the vet and began the conversation around what we can do, and more distressingly for us, when nothing else can be done. After a long exam with our trusted vet and some x-rays, we decided to change the meds Rock is on and to invite another vet who does acupuncture and laser treatment for dogs and cats in a similar condition to our home. Yes, she does house visits!

More importantly, and very difficult for us but so critical for Rock, we decided that if the med change and acupuncture did not work within a week or so, and that Rock could still not walk or get up on his own, that we would do what we believe would be best for Rock and have him euthanized.

The emotions in just writing about this are huge and uncomfortable and in a sense tragic. Rock has been part of Mike's life for over 16 years and part of mine for almost 10. He is our family. He is my little schmeagle beagle.

The day after the vet visit and the change in meds the vet who does acupuncture and laser treatment came over. The treatments lasted an hour. She really impressed Mike and the treatments seemed to help Rock right away, at least in making him more comfortable in his own body.

Two days later Rock has been able to stand outside to do his thing, and has walked from the kitchen to the living room to the bedroom. He is definitely showing signs of being in less pain, and we are cautiously optimistic. Not for ten more years with him, but a life with him that is one day at a time and includes him being in little or no pain with the ability to walk and go to the bathroom on his own.

Thank you so much for reading this post. I will keep you all updated as we continue this process.