August Blu "Gus" April 3, 2009-January 4, 2010

On Monday, January 4, 2010, we lost our beloved puppy August Blu, which you know as Gus.

She went in for a routine spay surgery, everything seemed fine to the vet. As they were walking Gus out to me, she collapsed and turned white. Her body temperture was 95 degrees (when it's supposed to be 101). They put hot towels and hot water bottles around her as well as pumped some warm fluid in her to make her temp go up. It went up a few degrees and I guess they felt it was safe enough to release her into my care. They told me to keep hot towels and a heater on her and she should be ok. They didn't see anything that would worry them.

I brought her home and rotated towels from the dryer. Everytime I would cover her, she would get up and move. I wasn't able to pick her up and move her to the bed, so I waited until Nuge got home and then we both moved her. I put towels and the heater on her and she stayed put. I laid down with her and kept petting her and telling her it was ok. After an hour or so, she started to convulse. Of course I freaked out and called my father in law (who lives a few minutes from me) so he could come help me take her to the 24 hour animal hospital down the street. By the time he got here, she was not breathing. Kevin carried her to the car and I sat in the backseat petting her and rubbing on her. Nothing. We got her to the hospital and they took her in the back. There was nothing they could do for her. By the time we got the news that she was gone, Nuge had shown up. We cried with each other and just kept petting her.

She was our sweetie pup. She was 9 months old and we still had so many more years left to play with her. We are trying not to be mad at any of the situations because being mad and angry won't bring her back. we are not putting blame on anyone or anything. She could have died from any number of things: eternal bleeding, reaction to the meds, heart failure, anything. We talked to the vet the next day and she told us that she cut her open and didnt see anything that was out of the ordinary and even double checked to make sure she wasn't bleeding anywhere. We are just remembering how awesome she was. How much fun we had with her. And how much we loved her and she loved us. Over the last few days, we've been retelling funny stories about her and just missing her so bad. Going to bed, waking up, and everything in between is just not the same without our Gussy. But we have faith that God took her at the right moment. He knows better than us and we are going to trust Him with everything we have.

We greatly appreciate the outpour of support and prayers that we have received over the last few days. It has been so overwhelming to get phone calls, texts, comments and private messages. Thank you so much for all of that. We appreciate continued prayers for us to cope with losing our Gus and for us to figure out what our new normal is. Thank you all so very much.
Here are some pictures of our Gus over the last 7 months.