Sweet Shoppe Designs

a layout about our dog who died this fall


everything is by Robin Carlton at www.sweetshoppedesigns.com


everything but the stitches (from Robin's and Christy's Expecting Sweet Stuff) is from Robin's See Spot Run kit.
journaling reads:
You arrived when you were four years old. A lost animal saved
by my brother Neil. Your previous owner had to move in to
care for her elderly father; and there was no room in her new
home for you or your best friend, Splash, the largest black and
white tomcat I have ever seen. For some reason, Neil brought
all lost and lonely stray, or soon to be stray, animals to me.
You and Splash were inseperable in the beginning. It was as if
he were your security blanket in this new chaotic home, and you,
his. Eventually, the two of you fell into our household routine.
With you guys, I somehow had a total of two dogs and six
cats. You learned to hang out with our dog Cookie. And you
took to the freedom of living in the country quickly. You used
to walk the quarter of mile down the road to my Great Aunt
Elmina’s for a visit and a snack. For years, you considered
the road an extension of your yard and trotted off to explore.


Over the years, you lost all of your friends to illness, accidents,
and the wide open spaces. Splash died from feline leukemia
about five years after you arrived, and your pal Cookie
was hit by a car. You lost most of your hearing and developed
arthritis. Yet, you still heard the call of the road and attempted
to wander off to explore. Finally, after the horse stepped on
your leg and broke it in three places, we had to confine you to
the yard. You couldn’t hear the cars approaching, and your
poor arthritic legs wouldn’t carry you out of harm’s way. You
celebrated your seventeenth, then your eighteenth birthday.
Still, you plodded on. Then this past April, soon after you
turned nineteen, we discovered you were in the early stages of
kidney failure. Over the next few months, you began to slowly
fade away, having more and more difficulty finding food that
satisfied you or a comfortable place to sleep. By September,
your kidneys were truly failing- you were sleeping most of
the day and you were steadily losing weight. It was time
to say good-bye. These pictures were taken in the last
moments of your life, before we put you to sleep,
in order to avoid the incredible discomfort and
pain that comes with the last stages of kidney
failure. September, 2006. Abby, we miss you.
Thanks for looking, Diane