[pyrnet] Good-Bye to Zoe

[Shirley McGreal <smcgreal@sc.rr.com>]

Yesterday morning 20 October we said a sad farewell to Zoe, our 
rescue Pyr who had lived with us since May 2005. She was 10 years and 
five months old. For several weeks her health had been failing: her 
rear legs because weak and she lost weight rapidly, a few pounds a 
week. Then she slowed down on her eating, and finally stopped for the 
past four days. Nothing tempted her. She also developed a cough. This 
morning we (me, Betty and her special caregiver Tina) took her to our 
vet's and he agreed with us that it was time to let Zoe leave. He 
suspected cancer.

Here's the story of her life at IPPL: at 8.15 a.m. on Friday 27 May 
2005 I received a call from a former employee named Ginny who works 
for the Charleston SPCA. She has the sad job of performing euthanasia 
among her duties. When working for me she helped with the care of our 
first Great Pyrenees Sebastien. On that Friday morning, she checked 
the work list for the day and found a Great Pyrenees was slated for 
euthanasia with no chance of adoption. Because the animal had 
heartworm, there would be no reprieve. Ginny was frantic and asked us 
please to get her out, so within half an hour my  husband was on the 
way to the SPCA and came back with a very sweet, very scrawny, and 
very dirty girl named Zoe. Definitely a Pyr, supposedly originating 
in New Mexico. There was no breeder's name on file. We contacted 
Martha at Rescue, but Zoe proceeded to ingratiate herself with 
everyone and never left!

Originally Zoe's main health problem was the heartworms, which was 
why the SPCA did not plan to put her up for adoption. She was also 
not spayed. She was an outdoor dog, which means certain heartworm 
here in South Carolina for an unprotected dog. The owners signed her 
over as they were moving to Arkansas.

Our vet suggested giving her a monthly Heartguard pill as it would 
prevent new worms forming and would kill off existing ones within a 
couple of years. She was too scrawny to risk a full treatment. 
Amazingly, this treatment worked and Zoe was soon microfilariae and 
adult worm free.

She enjoyed being a house dog and going outdoors to visit the 
gibbons. She was very friendly and was thrilled to meet Christine 
Palmer-Persen who visited IPPL and gave Tina grooming lessons.

Tonight I went out shopping and came home and found myself calling 
out, "Hello Zoezey," but no tail-wagging Zoe came to the door.

Zoe followed Sebastien, Patou, and Ivy as IPPL's house Pyrs. All were 
wonderful animals. Good-bye, Zoe, and thanks for your gifts of love 
to all of us. Shirley

Photos at 
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=490579361322&set=a.102197756322.121776.595651322 
and 
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=462775733887&set=a.124535583887.102181.99981083887


Shirley McGreal, OBE, Chairwoman
International Primate Protection League
PO Box 766, Summerville, SC 29484, USA
Phone - 843-871-2280, Fax- 843-871-7988
E-mail - smcgreal@ippl.org, Web: www.ippl.org

Would you like to help support IPPL's own ape sanctuary? Now you can
sponsor one of IPPL's own gibbons and receive quarterly updates on "your"
gibbon (Courtney, Igor, Tong, Arun Rangsi--or a gibbon of your 
choice). Just visit
www.ippl.org and click on "Adopt an IPPL Gibbon."