Sweet Kenzie Mae

This was a very sad weekend in the Sheffield house. My sister had to make the decision to have our little Kenzie Mae put down Saturday morning.

She had been doing better, she had been gaining weight and the tumor had shrunk…we knew that eventually there would be problems (the tumor was inoperable), but it seemed like she was doing so much better. I went to see a movie with my friend KW on Friday night, when I got home at 1:30 my mom was sitting up and said that she was worried about Kenzie. Kenzie just sat there, she wouldn’t get up, we couldn’t get her to drink anything and by the time I had gotten my shower and was ready to get in bed she had thrown up her supper. I knew that she was really sick, so I laid beside her and petted her until about 3 or 4 (when I finally went to bed). At about 7:30, I woke up to hearing her panting all the way across the house. Her little heart was racing, and her breath was really shallow. My sister took her to the vet’s office at 9 when it opened. The vet that was there hadn’t been the one to see her or the one that had done the surgery on her, but she had known and had heard about Kenzie’s tumor. She, too, was amazed at how bad she had gotten so quickly. The change was almost overnight. She said that she really felt like it was a rapidly-growing, cancerous tumor and that it had probably inched itself up to Kenzie’s heart and had caused fluid to build up. That was why the downhill spiral had happened so fast. She was very compassionate according to my mom and Rheba.

It has been a rough weekend. The house feels very empty. Both Karter Lee and Sassy both watched the door and looked for her when she didn’t come home. My dad has said over and over that he was shocked that this had happened to dog so young, and he “wouldn’t have had this happen for anything in the world.” It broke my mama’s heart, too. She’s been the one getting up with Kenzie every hour during the night the last several weeks, taking her out, and tending to her. We’ve just been trying to keep Rheba occupied, but I will admit, the sadness hits you when you come home and don’t see her running up to greet you.

I will say here that I never thought I would be such an animal lover, but sometimes pets just come in and touch your heart. There have been times in this past year that I have been upset and Kenzie would come up, demanding to be petted. After loving on her a bit, I would feel a little bit better. She has made us laugh in the hard times. Such as the time she came bounding into our living room, hit the standing fan, bounced off and bit Rheba’s toe (as if it had been the one to hit her). She will be greatly missed.

Dad contacted the breeder that we had gotten Kenzie from, and he was shocked as well. He has a chocolate lab puppy right now that’s 3 ½ months old that he’s offered to Rheba. We’re going to go get her tomorrow night. Rheba’s already picked out a name….Kymber Lynn. She will never be able to replace the Kenz, but maybe she’ll make our house feel a lively again.

Here are some pictures of Kenzie Mae. She will be remembered forever, and greatly missed.

Kenzie Mae when we first got her a year ago.

I just thought this was a sweet picture.

The Crazy way Kenzie would sleep

Kenzie Mae and Karter Lee, big buds

They have daddy wrapped around their paws :)