Welcome to the Zoo Part 1: Gerri Lee

I thought today I would write a little about our pets. We currently have 4 cats and one bird. This is down from the original 3 cats, 5 birds and a dog and before that, 1 bird, one cat, and one dog. I want to write a little about each of them since they are a big part of our family. I'll start with our dog, Gerri Lee. She was inherited from my then boyfriend (now husband)'s past relationship. The first time I met her, I was a little nervous. She was a pure ball of energy and she just wanted to run and jump and hug and kiss you. She was such a sweet dog but very intimidating to me. I had a poodle growing up who was definitely a ball of energy, but a much more manageable ball. Gerri Lee was a tornado.

Moving in with Jim, because I came home first, meant playing with the dog and making sure she peed and pooped and was fed. Then when Jim came home, we brought her in for bed, where the cats would torment her. In order to give the dog some peace, we had to cover all the holes in her crate with a blanket so the cats would leave her alone. One night, in the winter, she had terrible diarrhea. It was so bad that the smell woke us up. From that point on she was sick.

The whole time that she was sick (insert vet appointments, tests, steroids, prescription dog food, weekly trips to the vets for B12 shots, etc) she was so sweet. In the summer, she would nap on her favorite rock just soaking up the sun and in heaven. While she acted fine, she was definitely sick. She was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. She just kept losing weight. Her hair started falling out. The first time we took her to the vet for hair loss, he said it looked like she has been burned that's how bad her wound was. And it just happened while we were at work! It was scary.

By this point, we were both exhausted. Crating her was too stressful for everyone because she would shit multiple times during the night. We ended up building her a palace in the backyard, complete with Christmas lights, a roof, and a doggie run. But when it came time to fall asleep, I felt horrible. She was outside. All winter. I felt like the scum of the earth. We could only let her in for short periods because she couldn't control her bowels. One night we heard coyotes killing something in the woods and bought her in. But that night, she had to go back out. It was just terrible. I felt like I had to defend myself to everyone because they must have thought we were awful people. And the whole time, this poor dog was sleeping outside.

I remember when I would go to get her out for some playtime, when she would get tired, she would come stand next to me and put her head on hip and just rest. It was so sweet. And then she would jump up and get mud and shit all over my clothes and I would be mad. I wish I never got mad at her.

On April 3rd, 2010 we had to take her back to the vet because she was losing hair again. We figured we would leave with some ointment. We had to leave without our dog. She was so low in weight that she was basically starving to death. We cried. In front of everyone. The vet's staff who I had grown to love after seeing them all the time, were just as devastated. The woman who took our payment had tears in her eyes. I knew they all felt empty like we did. Worst day ever.

Two weeks later, I picked up Gerri Lee's ashes. She was buried next to her rock, along with her collar, tags, leash, and all of her toys...everything that belonged to her in this life. We also buried a part of our hearts that day. Gerri Lee, we will always miss you, always love you and we will never forget the playfulness you brought to our home. We will never again have a sweet pup exactly like you and we look forward to seeing you again in heaven.