I met Shelby only a few months agos. She was a stray at a local shelter, and her eyes just followed around as we stared at all the other dogs. Never once did she bark or cry or even move from the spot where she was sitting in her kennel. We almost didn't even look at her, we wanted a lab not a husky but we stopped and looked at her then took her outside. Within minutes we fell in love with her and had to have her. So we took her home that day. The moment we got her home she made herself at home on our couch, and on our bed, and in our hearts. She's always had trouble with her one back leg but her previous vet told us that it was arthritis and gave us medicine and we left it at that. Well three vets later we come to find out it's not arthritis and it's actually cancer. We had no choice but the amputate the leg, and even then there was no guarantees. So we went ahead with the amputation, and she seemed to do very well. This past week she started refusing her food and water and vomiting and loosing weight. The vets weren't too worried but this weekend she wasn't able to stand up or even wag her tail so today, when I brought Hannah in for her spay I brought Shelby with. They were going to try and stabilize her but they couldn't. They called me later today and told me to come down and decide what I would like to do. They didn't think she'd make it overnight. I went down and looked at her, she looked so tired and worn out. I had to decide to euthanize her. I didn't want to but I could tell she was tired of fighting, and I owed it to her to let her rest. I sat with her and held her in my lap until she was gone and then for awhile after I held her and cried. I've added a few pictures of her in her prime so we can all remember how beautiful she was. Thank you for listening to Shelby's story.
You were a kind person to let her go and to end her pain, and very brave to make that choice.
