Today my heart is broke.

 

Blizzard (?-February 12, 2016)

My Blizzard died this morning at 5:30 am after a day and night of severe pain.  I know that it is better that she is gone and no longer in pain, but my heart is broke.  I hate losing an animal and know that they all have their “sell by dates” but when one goes and it isn’t an easy passing it tears at my heart even more.

Blizzard was a lovely border collie that we adopted in December 2006 while living out in Colorado.  Blizzard came to us that December and today it is a howling blizzard outside when she was leaving us.

She was a blue eyed double Merle border collie.  a Double Merle is a breeding done between parents that both carry the Merle gene.  There is a a 1 in 3 chance of the dog being Deaf, Blind and having genetic problems.  Blizzard was deaf and mostly blind.  This type of breeding should never be done but some breeders do it under the mistaken thought that they will get MORE Merle dogs to sell at a higher price.  We had adopted another double Merle Aussie with the same sort of problems.

She didn’t interact with people or with other dogs like a normal border collie and although it did take a long time, she did eventually bond with Charlie and I.  She was lost from her first family and was in a shelter.  I drove across Monarch Pass to the western slope to get her, meeting the shelter lady in Gunnison, CO. Blizzard and I drove back across Monarch Pass in my CJ7 Jeep that December.  It was one of my first long mountain trips to get an animal. Charlie and I had both seen her on different adoption ads at the same time and were emailing each other about her.

If the shelter was correct on her age, she was approximately 11 years old.  (She was with us for 9 years and 2 months.)  That would make her the YOUNGEST of my older dogs and I seriously did not see this coming.  We went into the vet on Monday because she had vomited on Saturday and wouldn’t eat anything that day.  She did eat a bit on Sunday but not like usual.  She looked bloated and was walking funny.  We found that her pancreas, gall bladder and liver were swollen.  Her blood work showed her pancreas and liver functions were not right but her gall bladder was fine.  She was also anemic.  We were treating her for pancreatitis and I had to change her diet.  She was getting cooked rice and chicken and had started to improve and was eating again.

 

Yesterday, I woke up and Blizzard wouldn’t take her pain meds that morning and refused to eat all day.  She did drink water but her bloated look which had started to decrease was back.  By bed time, she was starting to stagger because she appeared to be weak but still would not eat.  I called the vet and I was supposed to bring her into the vet at 7:30 am when they opened this morning, but she passed at 5:30 am.

My Darling Blizzard is gone and is already missed.