In Memory of our Beautiful Zoey girl

Zoey Christensen (aka ZoZo, ZoAnnie, MojoZoZo, Princess Zo, little piggy)
12/31/2001 - 8/18/2009

Tony and Marissa took Zoey and Zeke for a walk early yesterday morning. It was a "stop and sniff" - instead of making the pups keep walking, they are allowed to stop and sniff and pee at will. Zoey vomited at the beginning of her walk. Hoping that she would feel better they continued with the walk. Zoey was happy and wagging her tail and fully enjoying her stop and sniff. She threw up again after eating a little rice. She ultimately couldn't eat or drink anything all day. I had decided I would take her to the vet when they opened to get some anti-nausea meds. She slept most of the afternoon except when she was wandering in a daze. She somehow made it up onto Zach's bed to look out the window, then she barfed multiple times. Zach is now getting a new mattress. At points she was so weak that we had to carry her from room to room.

When we went to bed she was laying in the hall outside our bedrooms. At 2:30 am Zeke came into our room howling that he was hungry (unfortunately, a frequent occurrence). Zoey followed Tony and Zeke downstairs and went out to lay on the deck. I got up and checked on her, her breathing was very shallow and rapid. Shortly after 3 am I heard her wailing/crying. It was loud and scary. Tony and I leapt out of bed and went to her. She was laying down panting. She wasn't responsive at all to us. We told her it was okay and she should just go to sleep and go be with the people that would love her and take care of her in Heaven. Zeke came out and kind of forlornly sniffed her and looked at her and then went back inside. We stayed with her for quite a while. The wailing slowed down and wasn't quite as loud. I was going to sleep out by her, but I thought maybe she needed to be alone to be able to let go. I prayed fervently that she could just go and be at peace. I listened to her wail every few minutes until about 3:55 and then it stopped. I checked on her and she was gone. Zach and Tony woke up and saw her too. Tony and I covered her with a sheet.

When it was light Tony and I uncovered her so that we could put her in the car. Marissa didn't want to have to see Zoey. We took her to Layton Veterinary Clinic to be cremated. I asked to see the vet so I could tell him thank you for helping us have 2 1/2 more months with her. However, as I started to talk I started to sob full-throttle. I snorted and covered my face. It was pretty! I was finally able to get out my thanks. He was moved and sorry she had died. We took her stuffed squirrel to be cremated with her.

It is sad that she is gone. But we knew that she was going to die. We were blessed to have the extra time with her after her diagnosis. We were able to love her even more. Take a million pictures of her doing all of the silly things that she did. When she talked to us she would curl her little lips around her "words". Marissa snapped a photo of that, it is so cute. Zoey was a little piggy. She gobbled anything she could. Marissa snapped a photo of Zoey trying to steal a treat out of her hand. In the last two months Zoey learned to squeak her toys on purpose and play with them. I would hear squeaking in the back yard in the middle of the night. I would laugh and be grateful that she felt well enough to be silly. She was happy and felt well until the last few hours of her life. Yesterday, even when she was too tired to walk, she kept flipping over and letting us tickle her belly. As far as we know, she only suffered the last couple of hours. She was a good girl and an wonderful addition to our family.

So far Zeke is doing okay. I think dogs are very intuitive. They loved each other and I am sure Zeke knew something was going on. He had stayed away from Zoey most of the day. When Tony and I were getting ready to put her in the car he come out on the deck and sniffed her sheet and sniffed the air around her and then watched from the window as we put her in the car. Marissa took him on a walk and he was happy and wagging his tail. They passed a house that had two yippy dogs in the window. He stopped and stared at them and then walked over to a tree in their yard, peed on it, smiled and walked away. HA! he showed them who's boss! I think he might find some joy in finally getting to be the Alpha dog.

Pets are a wonderful blessing. We honestly don't know how we lived before without our dogs. They are part of our family. They make us laugh. They comfort us. They are loyal companions. Zeke and Zoey have been part of the neighborhood family as they have gone on walks and escaped multiple times. It is hard to express the depth of grief we feel at losing an important member of our family. If we had never had Zoey we wouldn't be feeling this pain now. But what a wonderful 7 1/2 years we would have missed out on! We wouldn't trade it for anything!