w w w . S t r a y d o g. o r g U p d a t e
POSTED EVERY DAY AT NOON CENTRAL TIME U.S.A.
Straydog Inc., The Late Pat Arnold's Happy Home for Strays, a No-Kill Dog Shelter
P.O. Box 1465, Gun Barrel City, Texas 75147 * (903) 479-3497 * EMAIL: straydog@straydog.org

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

WEDNESDAY JUNE 9 2004

NOON UPDATE

Emails about Rocky

Subject: Rocky
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 16:37:20 -0500
From: Sara Jamison
To: straydog@straydog.org

Bill and Erin:

You did everything you could for Rocky. He sure put up a good fight - bless his heart. He was loved by so many - by those who cared for him physically and by all of us who followed his story.

But I think he realized it was time to leave and be with Buffy and Davey and Snowy and all his other brothers and sisters who left before him. And he'll be at peace and happy and pain-free now because Pat will watch over him and the others - forever. We should take comfort in that.

Kindest regards to all you wonderful people. I truly do feel your pain.

Sara

Subject: Message Regarding Rocky
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 15:42:04 -0500
From: Ofelia Gipson
To: straydog@straydog.org

Bill, Erin & Staff,

It made me so sad to hear of Rocky's passing. He really put up a great fight! Our consolation is that he is now in a much better place ... with a healthy body! I firmly believe that our beloved little critters go to heaven, where they can play and romp and never have to endure another hardship.

You (Straydog) never cease to amaze me by the affection and empathy that each of you have for all of the "furry children" in your care. Thanks for all that you do.

Ofelia

Subject: Condolences
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 15:09:30 -0500
From: Sue Diamond
To: Straydog

Everyone at Straydog,

I read with great sadness the news of Rocky's passing. Although, for the past several weeks I was half afraid to read the daily updates for fear this was going to happen. Fortunately, he did have several good days before his suffering ended. You all could not have done more for him, and I'm sure he appreciated it. I know how painful it is to lose one, but you should derive comfort from knowing that Pat is there to receive Rocky.

God bless you all,

Sue D.

Subject: Rocky's passing
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 12:46:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: chelo murray
To: straydog@straydog.org

My dearest friends at Straydog -

I was so sorry to hear that Rocky died last night. In a way, I am glad that he had a good week and that he spent his last week with
you all before his rapid downhill course. I know that he is with Pat at the Rainbow Bridge, but that does not diminish the sadness you feel without him here. Losing a beloved dog leaves a hole in the heart and in the family. Please know that I am keeping you all in my heart and my prayers. May the angels come and bring you comfort.

All my love,

Consuelo

Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 22:11:45 -0700
From: Carol Lyons
To: Straydog@straydog.org
Subject: Rocky

To Mr. Arnold (Please call me Bill), Erin, and everyone at Straydog,

Please accept my deepest condolences to all of you. What a lucky dog Rocky was to have such wonderful people care for him, and how
lucky you were to have him to care for! This is all that we can do for these wonderful creatures: give them our love and the best care that we can. As you say, he is now under the care of Pat and he is in perfect health(as is she). They are just enjoying each other, and there will be no more good-byes. Bless you all a thousand times over.

Sincerely,

Carol Lyons

Subject: Rocky
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 11:29:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Patty Jagielski
To: straydog@straydog.org

Bill:

I was so sorry to hear about Rocky when I read the afternoon post today. He gave it a good try, but he was meant to be in a better place. Take heart that you did all that you could to help him. He will be truly missed.

Patty

Subject: Rocky
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 13:20:52 -0500
From: Bollinger, Pamela
To: straydog@straydog.org

Bill,

I just read your Tuesday posting and am so sorry about Rocky. I think I cannot read your website at work anymore - I am crying now. You and Rocky tried so hard and I know he got a lot of love from you. I feel even more strongly now that we are to have Gretchen. Please call me if you want.

Pam

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and condolences!

 

Rocky will be cremated and his ashes will be kept in a very nice box on a shelf along with the boxes of ashes of all the others who passed before him

     Erin and Tina brought Rocky's body from Dr. Reeves' clinic in Tyler to Dr. Morton's clinic in Athens on their way back from yesterday's vet visit. Dr. Morton takes care of the cremation and returns the ashes to us in a beautiful box.

Yesterday's vet visit to Dr. Reeves' clinic

     We saw Dr. and Mrs. Reeves right at 2:00 p.m. They were very broken up about Rocky and expressed their condolences to us. "I couldn't talk all morning," said Dr. Reeves. "I was trying to figure out how to tell your Dad, and then he called. I just told him that it wasn't good. Your dad said, 'What do we do now?' And, I told him that Rocky had left us."

     Later during the afternoon as we were working on Angel's acupuncture, the doctor talked more about Rocky. "I think it was auto-immune disease, much like lupus."

     "Do people suffer from this?" I asked.

     "Yes, the end can manifest itself in many ways, but this is one of the ways," the doctor said. "I saw another case like this with a Whippet. It just hit him hard like Rocky, and he didn't recover."

     So, we visited with Dr. Reeves for much of the afternoon with our slew of dogs.

   Lucy

     Lucy had a Parvo and Distemper vaccine.

   Toby

     Toby had long sessions of acupuncture today, and laser lamp healing on his sore feet. He has such a hard time walking now that he often scrapes the tops of his hind feet and toes on the ground as he pulls them behind him. We need to get him a cart really soon because even though we are very careful to lift him with a strap around his belly so he won't scrape his feet, when we get to the park and remove the strap, he often wants to move around by himself, and thus he continues to bruise his toes and scrape his feet.

Toby gets laser light treatment on sore feet.

     The doctor said if we had a laser lamp like his, Toby's feet could heal up pretty quickly, but that machine costs $6,500! We have some aloe vera plants, and the doctor said aloe vera is the best thing to rub on Toby's feet.

   Angel

     Angel had a lot of acupuncture and networking done on her today. The doctor said her ears were clearing up well.

Angel gets acupuncture treatment.

   Patch and Whiskers

     Dr. Reeves took out Patch and Whiskers' stitches at no charge to us. He felt Whisker's leg and said that the surgeon had done a great job and everything was just fine. Because Whiskers is using his leg, we don't have to worry about aggressive therapy. Patch seems ok too. We'll be seeing Dr. Arnold in another couple weeks for Patch's second surgery. We have two people already interested in Whiskers. One lady stays home all day and needs a companion to comfort her since the loss of her other small dog who died of cancer recently.

Whiskers gets his stitches out.

Patch gets his stitches out.

More Photos

   Jasper

     Jasper, the beautiful yellow lab who was also undergoing acupuncture for his paralysis (and whom we saw often during our visits to Dr. Reeves) also died yesterday, June 8th. He had been doing fine, was happy and barking a lot that morning before his guardians went out for a short while. When they came home, they found that Jasper had died.

Another loss

     Also, Mrs. Wheelis, the wife of the fire-fighter and animal lover friend and client of Dr. Reeves, whom we published a short memorial about a couple of weeks ago, died one week after Mr. Wheelis' passing.

Upbeat News:

Patch and Lucy are in love!

     Patch and Lucy are in love with each other but at this point in time they only get to visit with each through Lucy's kennel fence when Patch walks by on his potty breaks.

Patch and Lucy are in love.