Goodbye, Sweet Girl

Kiero (named after the Spanish phrase “te quiero”)

I’ve been putting off making this post for weeks now because I didn’t feel up to talking about it, but it’s never going to be “easy”, so here goes. Kiero, often referred to as The White Dog, passed away last month. Her health had been going downhill for the last year, but I was completely unprepared for how quickly it nosedived in December. We suspect she had a brain tumor. Over the last 9 months or so, she began having seizures, went completely deaf & started to lose her eyesight. Despite offering her beef & rice, chicken with sweet potatoes, peanut butter, even using a syringe to get baby food into her mouth, I couldn’t stop her weight loss. She was wasting away.

I wasn’t ready to lose her. It’s been weeks now & I still catch myself looking for her in the morning before I remember she’s gone. I’m not sure how long that will last.

She was terrified of cameras, so a lot of our photos look like this. Or from behind as she skulks away.

The only bright side is that I know I gave her a good life and a good home. We rescued her from the SPCA 8 years ago. She’d been a stray for some time – skin & bones, scared & shivering in the corner of a cage. She looked like she really *needed* to be rescued.

After taking her to the vet it was clear that she’d had an owner at some point; she’d had some dental work done & was already spayed. We’ll never know what happened to her, but it certainly didn’t take long for her to get back to her feisty self once she settled into her new home. She’d steal the pug’s treats. She never backed down from a bigger dog at the dog park. She loved to cuddle. She basically just wanted to be with me wherever I went & was quite content to sit on my lap, even while I was driving. You couldn’t have asked for a better dog.

She was loved deeply and always well cared for, right up until the moment she took her last breath. She died at home, in her own bed. I don’t think she was in any pain. I think she was just ready to let go.

Goodbye, my sweet girl. Thank you for being part of our family. Words cannot express how much I’m missing you.