October 15th, 2016 – October 23rd, 2023, Bark! Bark! Bark!
Teddy passed away right in front of me. He had been fighting for 3 days at this point but he stopped drinking water and hadn’t been eating any food. He didn’t even bark at anything anymore and he had always barked at everything, enthusiastically! He was 7 years old on October 15th.
On October 2nd, we visited the Granite City Pet Hospital and found out that Teddy had a UTI. They also drew blood to test for other things affecting him that could have caused or be caused by him getting sick. We went home with antibiotics and waited for follow up from the tests. Two days later I got a call that confirmed Teddy was diabetic and scheduled another visit to go over what treatment and his lifestyle was going to be going forward. I was super hesitant because I knew I was going to have a hard time giving our family dog injections but Eston was there and we had his support that things would get done. We got Teddy’s Insulin and began the path to the future having a diabetic dog in our home.
Something Helpful: Insulin is expensive! If you are looking for affordable Insulin, Walmart is the place to go. They created their own line of affordable Insulin and you don’t have to have a prescription in most cases. I can say that my one-time purchase was only $36 for 1 vial of Insulin and 100 syringes. Also, this Insulin is acceptable to use in pets according to the pharmacist I spoke with, lots of people in our area have gone to them for this very thing they shared!
For the next two weeks we put into practice feeding out dog better and making sure that he ate enough to get his shot before each meal.
Thursday, October 19th, he stopped eating. I’m not sure why I didn’t notice right away other than it did seem very eager to move around and the house was a little less filled with barks… It was the second day, Friday, October 20th, that Basil told me that Teddy hasn’t been eating. We all tried to entice him to eat and drink but nothing seemed to work. Eston shared with me that since he’s not eating, we haven’t been giving him his Insulin shot per his Doctor’s advice.
I called another local Emergency Pet Hospital and they said they required a deposit of $1200 before any treatment could be done in case Teddy would need critical care needs met. The hardest thing about ending that call is knowing that I couldn’t afford the emergency costs of our dog being ill. By the end of day on Saturday, October 21st, he couldn’t get up from his bed hardly anymore.
Sunday, October 22nd, we made Teddy as comfortable as he could be. We each spent time with him, petting him, trying to get him to eat or drink even tiny amounts. We brought him outside and he laid in the grass a bit. It was still fairly warm and the fallen leaves made everything seem more muted and quiet outdoors.
At the end of the day, I was watching Teddy and distracting myself playing a round on Fortnite. A stupid and fun game to pass the time. Middle of the match I noticed Teddy’s breathing had changed from soft to more ragged and abrupt. I quit the match, slid down to sit on the floor and pulled Teddy and the blanket he was on closer to me. That 20 seconds it took to do all that, he was already gone. I only looked away for a moment and I missed it. I pet him and I cried. Eston walked back to the room and sat with us. Basil and Kaylee came in a moment later. We cried because he was gone.
We wrapped Teddy up in his blanket and brought him out to the garage, only for the night, so that we could bury him the next day. I made 4 cards of paw prints before we even dug the hole.
Something Interesting: The one thing that still boggles my brain ever since Fester had passed away… how stupid easy it is to dig a grave. Especially for a pet. I’m not just talking about because its for a small animal. I mean its like the Earth knew what I was doing that it just gave way for me. The grass let me break through the roots, the dirt and sandy mixture of our yard knew it had to make space. It was accepting our loved one and the love we gave them with care and compassion knowing we were hurting. So I give thanks to Earth for having done that. I don’t know how else to explain it anyways.
The morning of Monday, October 23rd, we buried him right next to Fester. They were the original duo and they can run free together or on their own now. The thing I remember most is that Teddy gets to chase all the squirrels and eat all the treats now because all dogs do go to Heaven.
The Vogel Family 
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