During the period that we were being faced with the decision to have our dog Dandi put to sleep, my best friends dof CHELSEA suddenly go sick. And, as things go in this life, she crossed over THE RAINBOW BRINFGE a week or so before my beloved Dandi. The following memorial to Chelsea was done by KIM P. the 18 year old daughter of my friend.
CHELSEAWho was Chelsea to my family? Chelsea was my family's dog that we had for nine years. She was a very important part of our family. Chelsea was a silver buff Cocker Spaniel. She recently got an auto-immune disease, where her body was fighting and killing her red blood cells. The doctor urged my family that putting her to sleep would be the best thing for her and us, because she was suffering so much. My family and I never realized just how much we loved her until it was too late. Now, as I sit home, I remember when we first got her, the nine years of memories and the end of her long life. My Mom and I walked into the house with the cutest puppy that fit into the palm of my mom's hand. That night Chelsea got a lot of attention from all of us in our house. My brother and I was 10 years old, and my sister was 14 years old at the time. We got her early in the month of December, 1989. She was only six weeks old when we brought her home. Christmas was very interesting that year. She would approach the Christmas tree in the cutest way. She knocked down all of the ornaments closer to the bottom of the tree, and chewed the wrapping paper on the gifts under the tree. As she got older, she grew closer with my dad. Everyday, when my dad would come home from work, she would wag her tail and just go nuts until he would sit down and pet her and make over her. When he was home, she wouldn't go to anyone but him. When he wasn't home, she would always lay next to me. Chelsea was one of the friendliest, laziest and most hungry dog someone could ever know. All she ever did was sleep, go outside and beg for everyone's food. People probably thought that we starved her, the way she begged for food. When,Chelsea would go to sleep, she slept just like a human, laying on a pillow. Every night when my dad would get ready for bed, she would stop everything she was doing and go lay in the bed with him. A few weeks ago, I noticed that she was being very lazy, and didn't go outside all day. I picked her up to bring her outside and in her urine I fund blood. The next day my father and I brought her to the vet, where we found out that she had an auto-immune disease. The vet gave us three types of medicine to give her so her blood count can go back up. He instructed to us the disease that she has was very critical and she may need a blood transfusion if the medicine didn't work after a couple of days. We brought her to the vet the next day so he could see if her blood count was any higher. When we picked her up later that evening, he informed us that she was not keeping any food down so he had to give her an IV to get some fluids into her system. The following day we brought her back to the vet so he could monitor her blood count. The vet called my father at work and let him know that she was not getting any better. If we would decide to do a blood transfusion, she would only live for two or three more days. After my parents got off of work, my whole family including my parents, my sister, brother, my sister's boyfriend, my friend and I went to the vet to see her for one last time. We made the hardest decision possible that day in telling the vet to put her to sleep. Chelsea is now buried in our backyard where she belongs. It is very hard to lose such an important member of our family, which we had and loved for nine years of out lives. It was the hardest for my father and I to take. My whole family was very upset and cried for days after the incident. When I'm home by myself, that is the time I think of her and miss her the most. Chelsea will always be in our hearts, minds and bodies forever. I know that she is better off now than to have her suffer.
She will be sorely missed.