Oregon Friends of Shelter Animals

Hi Cathy: Here is a picture of Barney. Thanks for all of the help and support over the past few days. We buried him in the back yard underneath the cherry tree.

Sandi

Dear friends at OFOSA,

I bring you terrible news about a wonderful border collie named Odie that
we adopted 5 years ago in August thru OFOSA at Petco in Beaverton. He was
such a good boy and we loved him so much! He loved to play frisbee and
catch. He was the fastest at the dog park and he was so beautiful. We
were at least his 3rd or 4th owner and we definitely gave him a good life
for his last 5 years on this earth. He was truly my husband (Aaron) and
my daughters (Daisy) best friend.

We had to put our dog Odie to sleep yesterday and it was sudden and
unplanned. I noticed he wasn't feeling good late Friday night and Saturday
I noticed it looked like he was having a stroke. He then started walking
all wobbly (like he was drunk) and stopped eating and drinking. Sunday he
wasn't worse but just not better. We took him to the vet Monday night
because he was the same and the vet said he had a geriatric paralysis
condition where they have a virus in the brain and in 1-2 weeks it goes
away. He had the common symptoms and since he is almost 10 they just
assumed that is what he had. The vet told us to give him benadryl because
he was dizzy and was nauseous. He then was high on benadryl and only got
worse. We had to hand feed him chicken and give him little medicine
droppers of water to keep him hydrated. Tuesday night/Wednesday morning he
lost all functions of his legs and would fall over onto his face and just
stay there. I took him to the vet again and carried him in there. The vet
said it is now progressed to some kind of brain lesion (tumor, infection)
and has affected his nervous system. He was basically catatonic at that
time and paralyzed. They said no surgery in the world could save him. So,
we opted to give him an i.v. of morphine, cortazone and an
anti-inflammatory to see if it would improve his functions. The vet said
within 2 hours we would now if it would help and we would have hope with
medication he would be with us for a while longer. Poor Odie didn't respond
and we had no other choice but to let him down. We picked up Daisy from
school and my mom was there to help us. We spent time with him while he was
resting on the medication for a couple hours. We then had Daisy say goodbye
and mom took her out of the room.

Aaron and I laid on the floor next to him in and he laid in between us. We
held him as he left us and it only took a few seconds. We believe he is in
heaven with our friends and family that are in heaven and he has unlimited
frisbees to chase and will never get tired again.
Aaron took Odies body and buried him at his friends Dan's house in
Tualatin. He has property there and Aaron used to take Odie there all the
time to run and play with his frisbee. He was buried with a blanket Daisy
picked out for him and we buried him with his toy football. When I found
him at the adoption agency, all he had with him was his toy football.. He
loved that darn football. He came into our lives with that football and he
left with it too. We are able to visit anytime and remember him.
I never knew it would be so hard to lose a pet. I have never experienced it
like this before. I feel a little piece of me has died as well. Daisy and
Aaron are home together and they are taking care of each other. I felt like
I had to go to work today to get out of the house and to get my mind off of
it. We will mourn and heal together. Everyone who met Odie loved him. He
was special and unique in his own obsessive compulsive way. He loved to
work, protect us and be our friend. Eventhough this process has been
painful, we had nearly 5 years of wonderful experiences and we wouldn't
change that for the world. We will always rescue our pets and give them a
better life. Thank you for all you do helping us find our baby boy, Odie.

Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated during this time.

Aimee and Aaron Newman

When I originally came to you after the loss of my 14 ½ year old Ricky in May of 2004, I was looking for Chaz and George was more of a companion for Chaz than anything. It took a very shot time for George to totally win my heart and he actually became my favorite of the 2. Please don’t get me wrong, I love Chaz more than I can ever say however there was a very special innocence about George that really got to me. I enjoyed watching George learn how to play with a ball and his toys that we got for him. Chaz was a wonderful teacher and as time went on George even started bring his toy to one of us, setting it on the floor and nudging it with his nose toward us to throw it for him so he could chase it and bring it back.

I want to thank you so much for introducing George to us and giving us the opportunity to have him as a very special part of our lives. Now it is time to focus on Chaz who is doing very well. He is completely off any and all commercial dog food and loves his home made dinners of chicken, potatoes and a vegetable of choice. His treats are home made Peanut Butter cookies out of one of many books I now have for Doggie Recipes. Even at Age 11 ½ he acts like a puppy and fetching his tennis ball is more or less the only thing he usually has on his mind. I guess some things never change but I really love playing with him. One thing I have noticed about Chaz is that since George is no longer with us, Chaz who was always reluctant to give kisses has taken to giving kisses the way Georgie did which was one of the things that was so very special about him.

I cannot help feeling somehow that My precious Georgie is somewhere in the heavens watching over us. He will always be in my heart as a very special little guy.

Frank Link and Doug Johnson

We adopted Scootie from you in February 2006.
Although we did not have him long, he was the joy of our life! What fun he was and what a wonderful personality. He will be sorely missed for a long, long time.

He died May 16, 2007, from a heart murmer. Ever the darling, he remained loving and giving until the very end. He made our household brighter and happier.

Thanks for all that you do...giving these wonderful animals a second chance AND giving us the opportunity to enjoy them.

Best Regards,

Max, our beloved German Shorthair Pointer, crossed the Rainbow Bridge on June 4, 2007. He grew up with our 3 children and Roxy, a cattle dog mix who died 3 years ago. Max had a healthy, happy, long life of 15 years and 4 months.

He was a very gentle and sweet dog, and shared our love and attention with Holly and Noah, our two rescued Border Collie mixes in his old age. We all miss him a lot.

Thank you again for your thoughtfulness.

Gordon and Yuki Marsh

Kia, Steve, and I are already missing Suki. She taught us how to play games. She made us laugh all of the time. Suki came to us 2 1/2 years ago as a rescue. Suki lived to a wonderful age of 13.

I don't know if you remember me or not, but I adopted Buddy from you last December. I am sad to say that we had to put him to sleep this morning. He was bleeding internally so it was for the best.. I am sad but I know it was best for him.. Just thought you would like to know.