Emma. . . 2003-2010. . . Rest In Peace. . .

Yesterday Emma was seemingly healthy. She snuggled with Rob in the morning, she played in the backyard with Zach in the afternoon and she followed me around looking for attention when I got home from work. At about 9:30 this morning, Emma was gone.


It all happened so fast, I think we're still a little bit in shock. . .


I woke up around midnight to a funny noise in the bathroom and found Emma standing between the toilet and the cupboard with her nose almost to the wall. At first I thought she was getting into the garbage but I quickly realized there was something very wrong. . .


She followed me out to the kitchen where I proceeded to show Rob and Zach how strange she was acting (Gloria was fast asleep). She stumbled over her food dish, ran head first into the refrigerator and tried to drown herself in her water dish. . .

We kept a close eye on her until about 2 am when Rob decided to take her to an emergency clinic. He called me intermittently between 2 and 4:30, always with the news that they didn't know what was wrong. They took x-rays, ran blood tests and even took an ultrasound. Nothing was sending up red flags except for the fact that she was terribly lethargic and suddenly very, very bloated. . .

The emergency vet recommended exploratory surgery that could cost between 1500-5000 depending on what they would have to do when they got in there. Rob and I decided that since it was almost 5 a.m., he would bring her home and we would take her to our regular vet at 7 a.m. when they opened. We love our vet and Emma is very comfortable with him. . .

I assumed that she was sedated from the drugs she was given at the hospital, so I wasn't overly alarmed at the fact that she wasn't moving. It was a little odd that she wouldn't close her eyes, even to blink but I was still hoping she had gotten into the garbage and had a stomach ache. I even thought maybe she had another obstruction in her intestine like she did last fall. . .

After fighting another flat tire on my truck, we finally got Emma to our vet around 7:45. . .

He set aside everything he was doing and focused all of his attention on her. The other staff in the office quickly came to Emma's side and began giving her an IV and prepping her for surgery. The doctor said her body was shutting down and it would be too dangerous at that point to try surgery so he would try to stabilize her first. At one point, I was holding my hand around her heart when she shuddered and her heart stopped. I was terrified. The doctor came running just as her heart began to beat again. He said the only thing that could possibly save her was to try surgery right away even though she was very unstable. Within 20 minutes we were given the news that Emma was full of cancer. The doctor described her liver as looking like cottage cheese. There was nothing anyone could do so we made the decision to not revive her. She was gone. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do when we went home to tell the kids. Gloria was still asleep and, of course, shocked by the turn of events and the loss of her beloved pet. Zach had a little more warning but nothing really prepares you for this. . .

Emma was born in May of 2003 and passed away on June 24, 2010. She was only 7 years old. She will always be remembered as a sweet, loving companion who was scared to death of the vacuum, who threw her dish when she was hungry, who gave tight squeezes around the neck and who loved us unconditionally. She was my Yemma, my sturdy girl, my baby. She will be missed.