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PAWtner
 Winnie
Winnie has been in my life for 13 years. She came into my life as a puppy. She belonged to a roommate I had. When my friend had to move I was blessed with keeping Winnie. Her 1st toy was a ball brought home and that ball was named Billy. To this day Billy is her favorite. Billy goes everywhere with us. To the park and grandmas house, friends, car rides anywhere she goes Billy goes. Winnie loves babies, baby kittens that is. She loves watching them be born and watches over them until they get big enough to annoy her. This started when my daughter found a very small kitten in a parking lot and brought it home. Winnie took right to her, she wouldn't leave the kitten alone. That kitten not only became apart of our family but also one of the dogs. Then she had kittens and Winnie had to start all over again taking care of those babies with the mothers approval! Well, it has been like that since I started to foster cats and their babies. Winnie has been there for every baby. You come over for a visit and ask her where the babies are and she takes you to them. She was so proud of them! Winnie has been with me through the hard and lonely times and of course the good. During those hard or lonely days, if those days brought me to tears she gets right in there and licks those tears away. There is never any hiding them from her. From under the covers to the pillow she will work her way under them and kiss me all over my face. I don't think I could ever explain how much she means to me and how special she is. Now she is sick. There is a tumor in her shoulder. She started limping about 3 months ago. It was off and on at 1st and the vet told me to give her aspirin. Well it got worse and I couldn't stand knowing she was hurting still. I took her into the vet again and this time they took x-rays and that is when I got the news. They wanted to take her leg off. Being 13 years old and them telling me it would give me maybe an extra few months with her I said no. I had talked with others whose dogs where Winnie's age and they had lost a leg. The stories where horrible. These people ended up having to put their dogs down because of the life they had after surgery. They wish they hadn't gone that way. Winnie's last days will not be spent getting used to 3 legs. They will be good days and pain free till her time. I've cried and prayed over her so much. I also didn't know how I was going to pay for her medicine since I am disabled and living on a fixed income. I thank God for Brown Dog Foundation! What a wonderful gift you have given Winnie and myself. She is doing good on the medicine you have supplied. Thank you so much. Sincerely, Sandi and Winnie Rehm UPDATE: Winnie fought her cancer hard and enjoyed her last 3 months on this earth to the fullest. She loved her momma to the end. Winnie crossed Rainbow Bridge on August 15, 2008. ADDITIONAL UPDATE: On June 12, 2009, Sandi passed away. After Winnie died, Sandi spent hours making some items that we could auction off as a way of "giving back" to Brown Dog Foundation. We had no idea that Sandi was so sick. All of Sandi's carry-bags were sold at Auctions benefiting the Top Dog & Cat Competition (both in TN and IL). We have two quilts that remain un-sold that will be made available at our Annual Wine Dinner. Each item has a memorial for Winnie sewn in. We're happy to know that Winnie & Sandi are together again. |
