Garnet

“My Tribute to Garnet”

Garnet came to me on January 20th, 2002. The first thing she did for me was she vanquished all the grief that I had after Bridgette, my golden for 11 years, had passed on to her reward. A week after her arrival, we discovered that Garnet had severe arthritis in her spine and knees as well as a heart murmur and a hugely enlarged heart. She was put on 3 meds for that condition. Later on in the Summer she had an episode of vesibular syndrome (aka old dog vestibular syndrome) and so I started to take her to acupuncture which alleviated that problem and in the meantime started her on some really good arthritis medication, Joint Response. She could never really walk in a straight line due to the spinal arthritis interfering with the nerve to her left leg.

In spite of all these health issues, Garnet was alert and doing well. With 5 cats, a mini-wiener dog and a big Yellow Lab there was never a dull moment for her. The cats loved her. I had rescued a young kitten, Tuffy, from a Carls Jr. parking lot and she tried to mother him but he wouldn't have any of it at first and then he would come up to her and they'd rub noses and just love on each other. She had 2 or 3 walks a day along the river and/or in the park. Additionally she had several dog friends in the neighborhood: Penny, Shadow, Jedi, Kitchie that she saw fairly often.

Garnet was such a gallant dog-person. She never complained at all about taking her meds, but if I wasn't careful she would spit them out. She never wanted to miss a walk at all. On her "good days" especially until January of this year, she loved the walks on the horse trail down by the American River, all those good smells and occasionally seeing a rabbit or walking in the water made her feel so good. Nice, slow walks with plenty of time to stop and smell the roses, I was careful not to make her walk too far or too long.

She was so loved by everyone that came to know her -- she just lapped it up. I, even, took Garnet to church once and had her prayed over. Just before it was her time to leave us, my pastor and I again prayed for her and she had a wonderful rally for a week. However, her kidneys were failing and so on March 10, 2004 she went to her great reward.

So thank you, Garnet, for sharing these 2 years with me and teaching me so much about all the health issues you struggled with. We all miss you and your loving, sweet and gentle disposition, you gave us so much. I know we'll see each other in heaven. 

Janet Turner