Our Little girl, Chihuahua, Angie, died today. We have returned from taking her little body to the crematorium and are trying to now accept her loss. Before I go more into her last days I want to remember her wonderful and special life.
Maria left her me for a few weeks while she moved from her house to an apartment. It was to have been for a short time only , but as soon as Angie was left with me she began to follow me everywhere. I had to be very careful when I stepped or turned around so I would not trip on her little body. She was less than 7 lbs when she came to me and would not really eat for a few days. I finally learned she would only eat or drink from white porcelain bowls. Go figure. Maria had brought little stainless steel bowls for her. Nonetheless after trial and error we finally found it had to be white porcelain; no plastic either.
Srini was in the middle of a 4 month trip to India to help his sisters. Maria brought Angie to me sometime in January and when I skyped Srini after she came, I showed him the little dog. He thought she was very cute and he said "oh no". After a few minutes of him seeing me holding her he said maybe I could ask Maria if I could keep her. I said I didn't think she could let her go.
I did however ask Maria, and she was very relieved. She had several other dogs and a cat and she was unable to keep them all in her new apartment. So by the process of chance and good fortune Angie came to me to spend the rest of her life here on earth.
I have loved all of my other dogs and cats to distraction, but she was the first one to love me most. Srini was always the first in the hearts and minds of all the others but Angie was the first, and last, to love me best. She adored Srini and they always had very special times together. He walked her and fed her and played with her and she would not give him a minutes rest. Like Gilda Radner said "Its always something". Angie tormented Srini from the time he got her off the bed in the morning until her last snack at night; she had him wrapped around her little paw.
With me she was different. She always had to know where I was and she always had my back. She followed me when I went to the bathroom. She slept on the sofa after her walk in the morning, but she knew I was on the computer. from 9:30 to 10:00AM she would wake, want a snack, go out in the backyard and then come to sit by me in the rocking chair by the computer. She would stay as long as I was there. When I took a shower she would follow me to the bedroom and sleep on my pillow until I was done with my absolutions. Then she would jump down or later be lifted down and follow me. In the beginning of our relationship I took her everywhere with me. Because she helped me to control my breathing; I held her when I had a panic attack, The Dr. gave me a note declaring she was my service dog. In the beginning I didn't have to drag oxygen with me wherever I went. Angie was enough to help me get control of my breathing. She went from supermarkets to church meetings with me. I carried her in her little bag and strapped her into the seatbelt next to me. Everyone loved her. All my friends thought she was precious. I had Bible Study in my house for many years and Angie would greet each of the members as they came. Then she would sit on whatever lap appealed to her at the time. She was the hit of the meetings and she always participated in coffee and cake after the meetings. She got up when I got up and followed me to bed when I went to sleep. Even in her last days when she was so sick she still followed me from room to room and to bed at night.
When a stranger knocked at the door or rang the bell she was all business. She would bark like crazy, even after I let the service people in. The only way I could quiet her was to hold her. Then she relaxed cause she was protecting me. When friends came to the door she would generally not bark because somehow she knew who was at the door. We have a ring security camera and there is a ringer that buzzes in the house when anyone approaches the house. She would always run to the door to check out the ringer unless it was an Amazon delivery. Then she would not bother barking. She would even leave her food to run to the door to protect us from invaders.
We always took her with us when we went to California visiting relatives or friends, Pam and Charlie in Morro Bay. When Kumari and Nagaraj's daughter was engaged we stayed with them and they welcomed Angie. When their daughter Priya, got married in San Jose. we all stayed in a hotel. We left Angie with Pam and Charlie. She loved her stay with them and sat in the home office with Pam while she worked from home. They even took her for pictures with Santa. This remains one of my favorite photos of her.
We had many wonderful happy years with Angelina until the very last few weeks. In the beginning she sat up in bed all night. She would start to doze off and then catch herself and sit bolt upright. This happened for about two days then she seemed to go back to normal. I do not have the exact date but about a week and a half ago she suddenly swelled up in her stomach like a softball or small balloon. I panicked and immediately did my google research. there were about fourteen things which could have occurred and they were all deadly. I check again and again, from website to website. There was only one conclusion. With Angela's age, almost 17,the answer would be euthanasian. She was in no pain and followed her routines all normal. She ate, peed, pooped, all normal. She still followed me everywhere. We discussed possible outcomes and decided if she showed any pain we would immediately take her to a Vet. The only difference was until this morning she did not want to go for her morning walk. I kept checking her for signs of pain. I even palpitated she stomach and she would just look at me. Last night again she was normal and this morning she wanted to go for her walk. She went slowly with Srini to her familiar places on the block then they came home. She ate her bacon strip and waited for me to lift her onto the sofa, Srini was on the computer and I went outside to greet the morning as is my usual practice. At 6:30 AM I heard Srini say "Oh Angela". I knew from his voice there was something wrong and came immediately inside. Angela was lying on the carpet. She had jumped off the couch. She was dead.. We both waited several minutes hoping for the best but fearing the worst. Srini went and felt her little body and she was indeed dead.
I am so grateful she died at home and we did not have to make a decision to euthanize her. It was what we both had prayed for: that she could die peacefully at home. So that is the story of Angela's little life and death, since we have had her. She was actually born in Chihuahua, Mexico and I have always said she had papers because Maria gave me a little book with her first puppy vaccination's. It was from a Vet in Chihuahua.
The end of the story is we took her to a PALS crematorium in Glendale. She will be cremated separately from any other pets and her ashes will be returned to us within a week, in a small cedar box. j
