Simply Life

Our Simple Raw Life...A Natural Journey Of Creation

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Sekoya

About 8 years ago I lost a Golden Retriever named Attikus to cancer.  Dogs should not get cancer! I realized my mistake the hard way and changed the way I thought about health, healing, and the body for both animals and humans at that time.  I lightly prepared a raw, nutritious, immune boosting diet and fed Attikus this food until his death which was 9 months longer than Drs. predicted.  He still suffered and I lost him after only 4 years.

My husband and I were devastated!! He was our boy, our child...and he was a very misbehaved dog.

I wasn't looking for another, not yet, I wanted to mourn, but the vet insisted we take on this Golden pup that was returned to the breeder for howling at night and abnoxious behavior.  What? Seriously this dog was perfect from the beginning.  They must have really misunderstood her or treated her real poorly.

One look at this pup and we knew she was coming home with us.  Passive, submissive, timid, and stared right into our eyes. We named her Sekoya because she was grand and was the same reddish/gold color of the bark on the Sequoia tree.

From the moment we received her we were smitten.  Loyal, the easiest dog to train, peed in the house once and didn't chew on anything we didn't give her.  She dug into our house plants once but that was it! She was quiet and mellow and followed us everywhere looking for guidance and companionship.  I was so crazy about her that I knew I was going to change my life to have her in it everywhere I went.  I trained her to be a service dog, she didn't pass due to her timid nature, so I decided on something else.  I kept her vest, took her everywhere I went, from the grocery store to restaurants that dog went everywhere I went.  I decided to open a doggie daycare, boarding, grooming facility serving only the best holistic and natural foods since that was all I would feed Sekoya. There sprang Ruffhouse because of my booger brains.  She came to work with me daily.  She was on a raw food diet til she was about 5 and she saw the vet a few times that first year and rarely after that. She was perfectly healthy and beautiful. She slept in my bed, often on my spouses pillow when he left to work and she even came to every one of my yoga classes I taught.

She was the highlight of people attending the classes.  She gave her loving energy and helped everyone let go of their garbage they carried with them.  She patiently waited at the front of class, all the way til the word "Namaste" came out of my mouth.  She would walk around and great the people she knew, which grew tremendously as time progressed, she was the yoga dog of Utah Valley!

She helped me through a Divorce with full emotional support to both me and my spouse.  She moved from house to house in the mountains with me as I learned the deep parts of what makes my soul sing.  Then, she supported me as I picked up our lives and moved to Nashville, TN leaving the life I knew behind.  She moved with me and adapted to the new life of country living.  We learned the land, got chickens, watched squirrels, walked the forests and got eaten alive by ticks and the last killer to Sekoya mosquitoes.  I had to change her diet to a grain-free kibble with added supplements and healthy human sides with the random raw chicken or turkey neck thrown in there.  I wasn't working, got pregnant and had a baby, poor Sekoya's life had to change.  A little guilt still rests in my soul for her. She gave me her all, all the time and I had to give to my new baby and my family first.  I wouldn't do it different, its just the way it goes.  She still always showed me her joy and her love.

Life in Tennessee was good for her, mellow, peaceful, not nearly as active as Utah mountain life but she was getting older so it was better.  She played hard frisbee on the seven acres of land running back and forth and back and forth, pretending she was running after the squirrels she just couldn't seem to catch.  Who really knows how long she has been favoring her left hip but after three years in Tennessee her hip went out to a severely debilitating case of arthritis in her left hip. DAMNIT!!!

I took her to the vet once again to find out if it was broken or what, no just a case of arthritis that she was favoring for a long time by the atrophy in her muscle and the extreme firm right muscle.  With some blood work we found she was suffering from heartworm in her lungs and heart making it hard for her to breath. This was the hardest to see...preventable by damn hearguard...AHHHH! I should have been more diligent, she was on it, but I forgot some months here and there and there again.  She had her first case of ear infections and a UTI as well.  The poor thing was feeling shitty so so shitty and she was done.  She wouldn't get up, she wouldn't eat, unless it was steak. She got some good food those last few days. She wouldn't drink much unless there was beef juice in it.  I sat with her, laying side by side gazing into each others eyes and I asked her what she needed, what she wanted.  Her pain was tough, her journey to healing still wouldn't allow her to run again, she was done and she was hurting.  The arthritis meds didn't help much either.

I knew to keep her feeling this way was for me not her.  Oh, it was so hard to make the decision to let go of my one true sidekick, the companion that chose me over anything else, I was her world, she took my energy, she gave me energy, she helped heal me through it all and she was the ultimate, non-judging, unconditional loving best friend anyone could have and now I have to say goodbye.

I found a Veterinarian who has her business on wheels. She drove to our house in her large truck. She quietly and respectfully approached us as we laid Sekoya under her favorite pine tree in the shade.  As we sat in the beautiful fall day watching the gusts of wind blow the leaves off the trees we spent the last passing moments together face to face.  I kissed her and petted her and stayed with her those few days til the last moment.  The passing was what I want mine to be like.   It was comfortable, relaxing, blissful and so much peace.  Tears flowed, deep breaths were taken by myself and I felt her spirit breeze by touching my heart.

Goodbye Sekoya forever my best friend. Never forgotten! I love you so so much girl.