Casper

Our dog, Casper, passed away yesterday.


We got him as an early Christmas present from the pound this last year for the kids. They had been wanting a dog for years, and I finally gave in. Casper was very gentle, rarely barked, and fairly well trained. The vet estimated him to be about 2 or 3 when we got him, and besides an ear infection, he seemed to be healthy. The kids were so very excited to have a dog. We named him Casper, because he kind of looks like a ghost and he was so friendly. Here they are on the way home from picking him up for the first time.

Casper lived with us for 8 months and 4 days. He loved to chase the kids, clean up after Jonny ate, chew things up, and go on walks. He was so very good with the kids. I think his favorite time of day was when Richard would come home. Richard would often run around the backyard, over the trampoline and through the swingset, and Casper would chase after him. We had a lot of fun with Casper.




During the last month or so, he started developing symptoms for what we later found out was tick fever and valley fever. He may have contracted tick fever before we even got him, as we have never seen a tick on him. This is probably why he was always so mellow...he was sick and we didn't know it. He started taking medication, but it wasn't very long until we noticed more things wrong, like his face drooping. So the vet started treating him for a thyroid problem. Then a week and a half ago, he started vomiting more and not being able to walk straight. The vet thought it was a problem in his middle ear or a brain lesion, but it would be hard to tell without further (more expensive)tests and even then it may not be treatable. She started him on a 6th medication to see if it would help. It didn't. Within a few days, he became so sick that he wouldn't eat and couldn't hold water down. We made the decision that it was time to put him to sleep. It was very difficult on all of us. This past weekend we all spent more time petting him and giving him lots of love and attention. We made imprints of his pawprints. We took lots of pictures and shed lots of tears. We know that Casper is happy now, free to run around and play and eat lots of steak.




Casper, you will be greatly missed.