FRIDAY JULY 9 2004

NOON UPDATE

Katie's still with us and back in her daily routine

     After a thorough examination and an acupuncture treatment plus a 'vibrating coat' treatment Katie is revitalized (at least for the immediate present) and is back in her daily routine. Dr. Reeves said she's not quite ready to let go yet.

   Erin's report on Katie's visit with Dr. Reeves yesterday

     "Let's put the muzzle on Katie and take her temperature," Dr. Reeves
said, slipping the muzzle over Katie's nose. "It's normal."

     "And her heart sounds good," the doctor said after listening with the
stethoscope. "It's a hard decision, isn't it?"

     "Yes," I said. "But, we know Mom will be excited to see her."

     "What does your dad think?"

     "He's okay with letting her go, because we don't want her to suffer. Lately she
hasn't had the energy to walk, and we know she'll be going to a good place."

     "How is her quality of life? This is the big question." Dr. Reeves
asked.

     "Well, I fed her two bowls of buffalo meat this morning, and six
cookies, and she sure was perky and liked the food!" I took another biscuit
out of my pocket, and Katie smelled it and went for it, gobbling it up.

     "This is a good thing," Dr. Reeves said. "She does enjoy this. Do you want to do another acupuncture treatment and see if she gathers energy?"

     "Okay, I guess we shouldn't have stopped doing treatments on her a few weeks ago."

     "No, not completely," said the doctor. "We know that with old dogs they'll crash again."

     The doctor worked through his lunch hour on Katie with acupuncture and
that 'vibrating coat' therapy. (I don't know if this is a form of acupuncture or not. Some of the therapy is for energy, and a different setting works for pain.) When we were through, Dr. Reeves carried Sassy Katie out to my car.

     "She's not done yet. I don't know when she'll be done, but she's not done
yet," were the doctor's parting words on Katie.

Erin emailed the following message to me last evening

Hey Pop,

I think that Dr. Reeves just wasn't ready to put Katie down today.

I saw how Katie was a little discombobulated later. How she didn't seem to know where she was. It won't be long, I know. It's almost like at times she may be in a pre-coma state.

But since we've chosen to keep her alive a little longer, we can talk about the good things she does experience, like eating.

I'll call tomorrow and see how she's doing. I couldn't say to Dr. Reeves, "No, we've decided to put her down today," even though that's what I'd earlier written in my log book here at our house. I wrote that today was the day Katie would get to see Mom.

Just wanted you to know, Dad, that I know it's soon.

Maybe she will come back for a few days or a week or a month even. Whatever will be will be.

Katie did have the cutest look on her face today and seemed very happy when I was feeding her and when she was in the shade in the cool of the morning outside. I think it was an okay day for her, with some real good moments.

Now I would like to find out what really happens during euthanasia. I know that Mom started insisting years ago that the animal be anesthetized first and in a deep sleep before the lethal injection is given. Neither of our regular vets seemed to know about the reasons for this procedure, but I know Mom had read about it somewhere and was adamant about the anesthetic being administered first. Let's look into this further.

Erin

Emailed suggestion for people without Internet access at home

Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 19:54:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Erda Hillmann" <erda@swbell.net>
Subject: Newsletter Recipients/Computers and Emails
To: straydog@straydog.org

Bill and Team,

You could include a note in your next newsletter and encourage readers to use the computers at their neighborhood public library. Tell them not to be shy - the library staff will gladly show them how to use the PC and will answer any questions they may have.

What they would need would be the web address of Straydog (www.straydog.org ), which they would show to the librarian. Next, they would need a large piece of paper and a pen so they would be able to write down each step.

Also, the librarian will show them how to get an email address, e.g. through yahoo.com. That way they can receive and reply to emails at their library.

Tell your newsletter readers that if a 5-year old child can access the Internet, they can do it too. Tell them also that I will gladly answer any questions they may have by letter or email.

Erda Hillmann

Thanks for the suggestion, Erda!

Contributions are beginning to come in via mail and phone-in (and emailed in) credit card donations

     We can't rest easy yet (I don't think I'll ever again in my life rest easy), but thanks to our early contributors at this point in time we're at least a couple of weeks ahead of our expenses in our operating fund (which, once again, is our only fund). We again thank everyone for your financial and moral support.

Tomorrow's Adoption Day Roster

     Five new faces will be making the 90-mile trip to PetsMart in Plano tomorrow: