Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Emma Wanda Rudert Lovers….

Our Emma passed away today at 1:03pm in the loving arms of her Mom and Grandma with Chaps laying by her side.  I called Hospice at 8:00am this morning to notify them that Emma told me it was time.

We made Emma very comfortable in the bright sun room and spent a few final hours showering her with the affection she has had for 7 years and 2 months.

This picture was taken at 8:39am.

We all three loved on her and told her what blessing she has brought to our lives and the lives of so many others.

This picture was taken at 10:37am. This was the last picture ever taken of our Emma.  Thank you Grandma for thinking of this in our moments of sorrow.

We told Emma that Grandpa was waiting for her. I had received a sign from him a few moments earlier.

I made her a promise that she would never suffer.

At 1:03pm she respectfully and gracefully left us.  The dignity of her soul will remain forever in our hearts.

Dog Speed Darling…Dog Speed

More celebrating Emma’s life later….Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma ATB

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Dr. Leick Lovers…OMDawg, we were so hoping that Emma would be strong enough to make it to Dr. Leick today.  Dog have mercy she pulled it off and we had a great and fantastic visit today!  Dr. Leick came out to the lobby, bent down to touch Emma’s sides and said, “Wow Emma looks like she has lost a fair bit of fluid!” We went back to the blue block and the doctor confirmed his visual of Emma.  He said he could feel her organs where he could not before due to the fluid build up.  We reviewed the food chart and suggested a few more things to help reduce more of her fluid.

We were so excited.  Here she is after her examination and chiropractic adjustment.

Next up…the Mayor!

Chaps did great and the Dr. said that most of his adjustments were still in order but he fixed a few things here and there.  Chaps and Emma both love Dr. Leick.

It was a real feat to get Emma round trip.  Poor girl moves very slow and can’t do steps.  I had a ramp system set up but in the end we had to lift her on and off a small wall in our front yard.

Here she is coming home through a path we made for her after her back surgery.  Grandma and I are used to moving Emma the safest way possible after her various procedures.

She did so good.

Emma rested right inside the side door and I fixed her a nice bowl of warm chicken.  I went to the kitchen to rinse her dish, came back and saw this!  CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

She crawled into the big bed all by herself.  She has not done that in weeks.  I fixed her legs up on the bed and tucked her in.

I sat down on the couch next to her and exhaled.  Wow, that was some stressful afternoon.

Then I heard some slight cooing and looked over and saw something else I have not seen in weeks.

I guess a slight chiropractic adjustment and warm chicken really agrees with our girl.

I just want to thank all of the residents again for all of your warm chicken support and enormous well wishes.  This has been such a wild ride.

More being very thankful later…Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma

PS – did you know that kidney beans can help reduce fluid build up?  Wild.

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Keeping up with Emma Lovers.  Maybe we should change our name to tinkle town instead of bassethoundtown!  LOL!  Or House of Puddles the KY division.

This is what the back yard looks like most mornings after we do the laundry.

You see, Emma is on that water pill and she cannot get out the dog door.  We catch about 90% of her needs but during the night I might catch 1 out of 4 tinkles.  I have baby tinkle pad crib liners that I put under those old beach towels.  That way the hard wood floors are spared.

It seems like a lot huh?

“If she can do it so can I.”

Yes folks you heard him correctly.  When I wasn’t watching the Mayor decided to join in.

We can’t have that.

Maybe Mr. Steaming can help.

More Mr. Steaming to the rescue….Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and yummy treat lovers….Our Emma is on a real chicken kick.  She absolutely loves it and has never been allowed chicken due to her allergies.  Allergies – smallergices who the heck cares?  Not me.  So, I had to come up with a really yummy treat.

Emma and I had a little discussion this morning…

“hum…so you want chicken as a treat and as a meal….interesting….”

Chaps came over and seconded that emotion….(remember that song?)

I hurried off to whip up the order and frankly, they looked really good!

Here is howl I made them.

2 chicken patties with the breading scraped off.  I found a great patty in the health food section of Krogers.  It is called Applegate and their tag line is…”changing the meat we eat”.  No antibiotics, humanely raised, no nitrites or nitrates and casein free.  (Do I even want to know what casein is?)  Gawd knows but I am glad they don’t use it.  It has less salt, less fat and just all in all healthier.

10 baked lays potato chips.

1 cup of Bob Evans mashed potatoes.

1 tablespoon of no salt, no fat chicken broth.

Mix all of this together and then make into balls.

Down the hatch….

The Mayor approves as well…

Chicken Soup is the cure for everything that ails ya!

More loving Soup Balls later….Cat, Chaps and Emma

PPS and I second emotion…

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and pro-active lovers….

I thought I would give all of the residents our pro-active update.  Since Emma has been diagnosed with liver disease we have had many ups and many downs.  It got me to thinking about end of life issues for both Emma and Chaps.  So, I started doing research and found a Hospice for animals in our area.  It was a hard step to make but a smart one.  I signed Emma up for Hospice care.  We will now all be taken care of 24/7 by this wonderful group.

Emma had her initial evaluation and met some of her team yesterday.

Here she is waiting.  Grandma and I had all of her medicines and records laid out.

Her Hospice team….

Emma had a full examination and about an hour and a half meeting.

It feels good to be pro-active and not make end of life decisions in a pure panic.  We all agreed that Emma is not ready to make her journey yet but when she is we will all be ready to help her.

I will be blogging more about this facility in the future.  It is a blessing.

Today Emma was really enjoying her life.  Today was a great day!  A lot of stress and anxiety was lifted from our shoulders….whew…..

More loving being pro-active later….Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and pictures of perfection lovers…Well…

Come on…

Here is our first perfect picture!

And, not to be out done…Our very own Shimlette as a young pup!

Just to let everyone know, she is holding her own.  Grandma, Chaps and I don’t leave her side.

Both of these pictures were taken in 2006.  The year I started this blog!

Wow…6 years ago.

More perfect memories later…Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Chip off the ole block lovers….Well….Colby Chaps is sure one of those!  I thought I would share with the residents the very cute card my Grand-dog sent to his Big Daddy…

Like Father, Like Son….

More loving chips later….Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Turkish Den Lovers.  Well, today it seemed that our Emma was stumbling a bit on my hard wood floors.  It might be that her nails are getting too long.  We are about 2 weeks behind on getting them clipped.  I am going to work on that tomorrow.  Hopefully, her vet will come over and do that for us.  But for now…welcome to our Turkish den!

Grandma and I gathered up every single throw rug we could find and lined the hallway and office to the potty door.

We are all camping out in the office tonight.

I love my new door screen.  Now Emma only has a few throw rug steps to go potty.  She is on that water pill so she needs to tinkle all night long.

I have that little pull out couch.

Merhaba Nesselsan Arkadeshim.

Howllo Howl are you my friend?

I learned that when I traveled to Turkey for work decades ago.  Of course I am not spelling it correctly.  That is howl you would say it.

More throw rugs….and memories later….Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and facebook find of the day lovers….

I saw this picture and just had to snag it.  It is from one of my “friends” in Italy (I think).

I had to add the caption…..

Have a great Monday residents.

Chaps and Emma hit the snooze button and are still in bed.

More loving snoozing later….Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Fathers Day Lovers….This is somewhat of a hard day for those of us who have a Father who is departed from us. So many memories.  Every day you miss your Dad if he is no longer living but today is kind of extra hard.

I had taken Grandpa out for lunch on Father’s Day 2006.  This was just one of the many Father’s Days we enjoyed together.

I am very glad we had so much fun.  We used to love to go to the Purple People Bridge.

So, that reminded me of this video that really uplifted my spirits!

Remember this one?

Again, to all of the Dads in town.  Thank you for being you!

More loving Dads later….Cat, Chaps and Emma

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