BETTY #257

#257 BETTY (Beagle) Greenville, SC - Caudler, FL BETTY #257, a 10 y/o 26# female left the Greenville Animal Care Services with Taryn and met her new caretaker, driver Jim B. Partially deaf and blind, Betty traveled to Atlanta, GA, to meet driver Danny Joe W, who transported her to Heather and her final home with Rainbow Ranch Pet Retirement Home. Operation Roger driver Jim B pu 3-22-08 driver Danny Joe W del 3-23-08 ********** THE FOLLOWING WAS TAKEN FROM THE WEBSITE OF RAINBOW RANCH PET RETIREMENT HOME: Here We Grow Again! -- Monday March 31st, 2008 Third came Betty - Betty is a 10 year old Beagle mix with a heart of gold. Very calm and loving, Betty acted like she had always been here from the moment she arrived from Greenville County Animal Control in South Carolina. Little Betty was also delivered by Operation Roger! We sure love the truckers!!! Betty is well-liked by the other dogs and is mildly active although very arthritic and on medication. ******************************************** THE FOLLOWING WAS TAKEN FROM THE WEBSITE OF RAINBOW RANCH PET RETIREMENT HOME ON 6/01/08: Hi Taryn at GCAS and friends of Rainbow Ranch: I want you to know that dear Betty Beagle passed away yesterday at 2:27 (May 28, 2008). We tried very hard to make her last days very good ones - she had several trips to the vet, we resolved an open clotted dental socket that hemorrhaged, and she had her teeth cleaned. Betty followed me from the kitchen to the barn to the bedroom - she was a dear slow old lady who loved to eat! I never skimped on her portions and she was able to put on four pounds and filled out so nicely. But her teeth and the related infection that was rather virulent finally led her to decline very quickly over the weekend. She had improved since her arrival here on antibiotics but, a few days after completing her third bout of antibiotics, Betty just decided that life was too much. We had helped her close the two "cage" or bed sores or whatever they were (one on the left chest) and one in the groin area but this weekend the one at her leg/groin juncture painfully opened again. The vet thinks these sores may have been symptomatic of a metastatic cancer. Betty entered the hospital Tuesday night and was given fluids and x-rayed and blood-tested to determine what was the cause of her sudden decline. There was no one result pointing to an obvious diagnosis - just old old age. Our vet thinks Betty was probably at least 15. As is our "rule", Betty was held with a blanket and cuddled while she was euthanized. She crossed the bridge immediately so she was ready. On her last day here at the Ranch, 1 year old Treeing Walker Coonhound Freddie would go over to her and sit beside her and howl - how amazing is the bond between dogs. These are the only hounds at the ranch and obviously there was some affinity not apparent to us humans but definitely that exists in the pack. It has been our honor and privilege to love this dear old dog. We hope that her last days were filled with sunbathing, lounging in the kitchen, slow walks in the dog park and happy friendships with the other residents. Thank you, GCAS, for allowing us to love Betty. And thank you, Operation Roger, for bringing Betty safely here! Lovingly for the doglets, Heather Miller Rainbow Ranch Pet Retirement Home, Inc.,PO Box 685, Candler, FL 32111-0685 352-680-1707, fax 352-680-9712 ************************************************************