Schatzie

I promised Schatzie her own post so here it is...She's an almost 4 year old, 14 pound black and tan Australian terrier. She's our first adopted daughter.


We researched different breeds, found an Aussie breeder nearby, went to visit to make sure that was what we wanted (she actually interviewed us while we were there to make sure we were acceptable) and got on her list. Several weeks later, we got a letter saying our puppy was born and made an appointment for 8 weeks later to go pick her up. We also made an appt. with the vet for the following Monday to have her checked out because we had a limited amount of time to take her back if there were any medical issues.


On a Sat. March 1, 2003 we drove back to the breeder and she handed us a little furball and a box of stuff (chew toys, her best friend "Pig", a comb, other things a puppy needs to get by in the world). She could hardly eat without falling over, she sat in the kitchen floor and trembled, then fell asleep in my arms. I was up with her a couple of times during the night but she was really pretty good.

Monday, my husband took her to the vet and learned that on a scale of 1 to 6, she has a 4/5 grade heart murmur. He had already talked to the breeder and we had the option of taking her back and either getting a refund or another puppy, or getting 1/2 of our money back and the promise of another puppy if this one died from heart related issues. Not much hope for MY heart which was broken. Of course, taking her back was not an option for me. The question was - what should we do for her. Long story short, I ended up at the NCSU vet school in Raleigh having a last round of tests hoping they could perform a procedure to correct her problem. But, the problem wasn't what they thought it was and there was nothing they could do so I sat in the car and cried and then drove my groggy baby 3 1/2 hours back home.


Today, she takes heart medicine to slow her heart rate to try to keep it from wearing out too quickly. She pants a lot, doesn't play fetch quite as long as she used to, sleeps a lot after her very exciting walks but she can do a long list of tricks (for treats, of course) still jumps like a jumping bean when I come home in the evenings and is quick to chase off anything that makes a noise too close to the house. She's my baby and I can't imagine loving a human child more...but I'm hoping to give it a shot!! Until then, here we are...