Kimber

When our son's Walker hound, Biscuits, was 10 years old, and and our son was 16, Neal bought another little friend. He brought home a 10-week brown and white English pointer. He named the pointer Kimber. Biscuits, wasn't too sure about the new frisky intruder--jealous, I suppose. Biscuits didnt live very long after Kim came to us.

Kimber, you were one wild puppy. Even our vet called you "Hyper" instead of Kimber! You were always raring to go. You loved your squeaky toys, and managed to destroy most of them with your rowdy playing. You always loved your water. When the hose was running, you would stand under it and drink like a person drinks from a water fountain. You loved your swimming pool every summer. And we loved you. You were such an energetic puppy. Your doctor said that you needed to run with a log chain hanging behind you because you had so much energy.

After you were big enough, and after we lost our dear Biscuits, we moved her doghouse up by our bedroom window. You would sleep during the hot day, and play at night. In the night, you would run on your tether, and sometimes you would run so fast that when you rounded the end of the cable, you would swing up on TOP of your dog house. It had a barn-shaped roof, and was about 4 feet high. But our sweet, rowdy puppy didn't know how to get down, and you were too afraid to jump into the dark, so you would sit up there and whine until Neal would come lift you down. You continued this jumping and getting stuck on top even after you were full-grown.

Your boy and his dad took you out several time to look for quail. But their habitat was being destroyed. Too many farmers were growing soybeans and not crops that quail likefor nesting. So you never did find any quail. But that was okay, we really got you just to love.

You had such a good short life. You always had allergies, your ears itched, and your gums itched. You liked us to make you a squeeze-bottle of ice water with sugar and a doggie vitamin dissolved in it. You licked the tip until you would finish off 20 ounces two or three times a day. You would eat ice cube after ice cube, as long as we would stand and share them with you. You loved popsicles and gatorade sports-type drinks.

Kimber, you would get so excited that sometimes you just shook and shivered. Now I know that you probably were sick from a very young age. Soon after you turned three in August 2002, it was so very hot that you just wouldn't eat. After three days of not eating, we knew you were in trouble. We kept you in our house, letting you sleep by our bed. You continued drinking, but we had to put pureed food into your mouth to get you to swallow anything.

We took you to the veterinarian. His helper looked at you and said, "I really didnt like you as wild as you were, but now that I see you like this, I would give anything to have our rowdy Kimber back." We took you to the doctor wrapped in a quilt. You loved to burrow into a quilt and poke your head under a layer of it. Your doctor transferred you to another doggy hospital. After several days of watching you decline even more, blood tests showed that you had Addison's disease.

Oh, my, how much we loved you. But we just couldn't commit to the hundreds and hundreds of dollars it would take to treat you. And you could have lived a long, long time, but we just couldnt commit the money. You would have had to have a shot of Percoten-V every 25 days, and pills every day. The medicines alone would be near a hundred dollars every month for the rest of your life. And you would have to have continual blood tests to monitor the hormone levels. So, after thinking a long, long time, it was decided we had to let you go. What a guilt feeling--knowing that if we just had more money, we could have let you live a long, good life. I dont think Ill ever get over the guilt. Having the power of life and death -- the choice -- in our hearts. I didnt want to let you go. Ive cried and cried over that choice. I know it wasnt the right choice. I also know that we could make no other choice. Oh, Kimmy, we miss you--and I still cry....