Truly a Saint Now

On October 5, 2012 our beautiful boy succumbed to his four year fight with epilepsy. It was a condition we never were truly able to bring fully "under control." Throughout his life, Mudge had at least one grand mal seizure every two weeks. He took phenobarbital twice a day and potassium bromide once a day for the duration of his condition. In the last year we added zonisamide in an attempt to reduce the pheno. and minimize the effects on his liver. Although it gave him some respite from the hind quarter weakness that had gotten so pronounced shortly before we made the changes to his meds, it never brought the seizures under control. In the end, our boy began to show signs of liver failure and was clearly unhappy and in pain. We loved him too much to allow such a magnificent creature to live like that and so we made the difficult decision to send him on to the next life. On his last day, amidst the symptoms of the liver failure, he still had a few moments of being himself and left with dignity. We sat with him on the floor of our vet's office and reminded him of how loved he is as he set foot on the other side. I pictured him greeting his older brother Humphrey and walking the path together. I hope and believe that my dad, who would have loved him had they ever met in this life, was there at the end of the path to take him the rest of the way.

Although his life wasn't always easy, he was a happy dog and loved by everyone who ever met him. He often came to the church office with me and slept on the floor by my desk. He was the doorway to meeting many people in our small town. People whose names I still do not know would walk up to me and ask, "How's Mudge today?" He is and will forever be the best first Saint a person could ever have.

Today we took the first steps to welcoming a new Saint into our family. We drove 4.5 hours to Waverly, IL to meet a wonderful breeder of beautiful, friendly, happy, healthy Saints. Her pack of 11 greeted us as we stepped out of our car and it felt a little like we'd stepped into Heaven...except that Mudge was not among those smiling Saint faces and wagging tails.

We are now anxiously awaiting the birth of a litter so that we might soon bring another furry bundle of love into our home. We plan to name our new boy Ivan Jeremiah. Ivan simply because it's a name we think is befitting of a noble Saint and Jeremiah for one of my favorite pieces of scripture..."For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

I have big plans and even bigger hopes four are future family member. From the beautiful dogs I met today, I have no doubts that they will all be fulfilled.

Signing off....

Forever and always, Mudge's Mom

Leave a Comment