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Beezus

The beach was Beezus' happy place - Onrus

Goodbye Beezus… my happy little Wolf… (2011-2020)

Beezus died in my arms early on May 7, 2020, his 9th birthday.  He had led the most extraordinary life and has been described as “legendary” and with every superlative one can think of, but Enid Vickers of Corporate Image coined it in her February 2020 email to me: “Beezus is officially the cutest little dog I have ever seen. He is also the friendliest and calmest.”  He was loved by everybody and I became defined by Beezie, as I had been by Akela the wolf before him.

I wrote Goodbye Akela & Kenya in 2012 the night before they died, partially as way of saying my final goodbyes.  Today is one month since Beezus died, and I have been struggling to finish this because his death was so unexpected.  There are over 9,000 photos of Beezus, each one a memory.  So I am putting this up as a Draft and, for the next few weeks, I’ll edit and add to this content.  And add captions to all the photos.

"See what big teeth I've got"
“See what big teeth I’ve got!” Baby Beezus with Akela the 13 year old wolf.  For his first 18 months, he was raised by a wolf.
Read More »Goodbye Beezus… my happy little Wolf… (2011-2020)

When conventional medicine and vets fail us

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One Saturday morning about three months ago, Beezus was diagnosed with heart failure and acute congestion of the lungs as a result.  I had taken him in for a precautionary checkup because of a a very slight dry cough that occurred once a day at the most.  I was shocked!  The local Stanford vet — who had been seeing Beezus to prepare him for his Pet Passport — was very worried and got Bergview Vet Hospital in Hermanus to see him immediately for x-rays and a second opinion.

Beezus

Beezus!

They confirmed the diagnosis, prescribed meds to strengthen the heart, another to reduce blood pressure and a diuretic to empty the lungs, and said they hoped I had a vet on 24 hour standby because they didn’t know if he would make it through the night!  I didn’t have one, unless I drove back to Hermanus…

The local vet had said that she had a Sunday morning appointment and I should bring him in.  The sedation for the x-rays had really knocked Beezus out and he slept through Saturday afternoon and night, but we were waiting at the vet at 9am on Sunday morning.  His lungs were much better and it became a matter of keeping him quiet and waiting for all the meds to kick in.  The prognosis was that he could live a long life but would be on meds for the rest of his life.  (That’s about R500 a month.)

And Beezus slowly became a little of his old self, but tired more easily and needed to be carried after a while on long walks.

Read More »When conventional medicine and vets fail us