It's just a dog!
Happy Birthday Elton John!!! Today was you was supposed to be celebrating your 7 years – a crushing loss to all of us. I miss you and you will always be something special to me and 2 Save Me. Not a day goes buy when I don’t think of you or your smile.
2020 has been a wild ride. Elton John was rescue from the police/mattilsynet in 2019. May 11th, I got a phone call to see if I could help this St Bernard before he was going to be euthanized. I was told he was approx. 5 years old but a sweet boy.
In a couple of hours, I was on my way down to east of Stavanger to pick him up. When I arrive, he was a thin but a large boy. His tail was not wagging and moved slow over the grass. My heart broke down and fell in love with him right away. Got the paperwork and suddenly I had rescued my second St Bernard. I already owned one and this was my second rescue St Bernard. The drive was long and, but he was quiet, no sound or any barks. I was thinking to myself what have I done? I just had 3 male St Bernard’s in my house. Two that was barely 1 year old and one older boy. Little did I know how they would react to have one more into the pack. I struggled with my first -rescued St. Bernard. He’s a boy with trust- issues towards humans, and added Elton John to the pack, who had been a victim of negligence, it was indeed a challenge for all of us.
Elton John was so dirty and smelled bad, so I booked appointment with Sele Dyreklinikk for the next day but for me to take him into my home and bed I had to get him washed. I drove straight to Swim & Trim 4 Dogs to ask if they could help me clean him. Tone open the place and we put him in the tub, he has severe yeast infection all over his fur. He got scrubbed and blow-dried before we went home.
Finally, home, and he jumped out of the car and had no energy left to walk or do anything. I was able to get him into my house and he just lay down in the hallway, no tail wagging, but tired and did not want to eat. I laid down on the floor with him and told him: “He will be okey. I will take good care of him.”
Next day, I took the day off work, and went to the vet. He was so anorexia and had no muscle, almost given up living. The vet told me he was too weak to do any test, we weighed him, and his weigh was 55kg, that is nothing for this kind of breed. The focus was to start feeding him 6 times a day so we could take some test and see what was going on with him. Little did I know that he was close to have given up life, but I was determined to give him a second chance. He was picky on eating but once I found the food that he loved to eat; things got better, well at least as I had thought so! He was getting Royal Canin gastro and VOM with salmon to make sure he was getting enough calories. I had to take him to my work every day to make sure he was eating every two hours. After a month of intensive feeding, he started eating on his own, and yes, that boy could eat. Although, oddly, he’s not digesting properly, I suspected. His excrements were loose, and weird as if he was pooping “yellow corn kernels” and sand! Another trip to the vet to do more test on the poop and came out negative results. The puzzling “sandy poop “remained confusing, as how on earth he’s pooping that way? We did more test and put him on a strict diet. After so many trips to the vet and so much special food he was literally “eating me out of my house!”. I had to think of something! So, I arranged a fundraising for him at Stavanger Movie theater that was going to cover some of the vet bills.
One week before the fundraising he was so sick and started to bleed in his mouth and it would not stop. I called the vet and got him in right away. It did not look good and he was in pain. His mouth was inflamed, bleeding and blistered. He was in pain. The vet also found a large tumor in his neck, but we could not do much with it right as his immune system is too weak to undergo any surgery. The vet told me this is not looking good, I told him I am not giving up on him a week before I have the fundraising. He said I will give him some prednisolone and take a blood sample and rush it to Germany to find out what was wrong. They were able to get the bleeding stopped and he got some pain reliever. I took him home and let him sleep with me each night to make sure he was okey.
In few days, we got the test back and that he had acute pancreatitis. His diet got changed again to a low-fat gastro and I could just hope that he would survive a couple of weeks.
The event was hold 4th of September and we raised kr 3 000, - to cover some of the vet cost. Stavanger Kino sponsor the event and we were lucky to have Sola Hundesenter, Sele Dyreklinikk, 4 Swim and Trim and Mari Bølla (the winner of Idol to entertain us.) The audiences were less than expected, but I was happy and grateful enough that some people took the time to support Elton John, nonetheless.
Weeks later, things were going well, and Elton John was coming alive. I finally started to see another new boy and his tail was wiggling and barking when I came home from work. X-mas came and went by, and 2020 was the year of prosperity. Elton John was happy, and I had time to rescue more dogs and life was good. Elton John behaved like puppy again. 2020 should be the year with new opportunities, but ended up with losing my job, more dogs to rescue than I could have imagined.
Summer came, and Elton John became a Blue Smurf. I woke up one morning and saw his head was blue, and I was looking around to see what blue pen was missing. I frantically start searching the net and was finding too many issues, so I had to wait until the weekend was over before a new visit to the vet. His organs starting to get worst, he was put on antibiotic and after 2 months he was still not getting better. The vet told me he could not live on antibiotic for the rest of his life and I needed to set a date for him. I new this day was coming but it is still the worst decision you take. The boy I have gotten to know and was so full of life and I new it was just a month away to say goodbye to him.
Despite medication, eventually we had to say goodbye. He hung onto his dignity, going outside. April, Marefie, Silje and Elin took him all over Stavanger city, Sandnes and Byrkjedalstunet. His last week was to give him all the treats and fun time we could indulge him with. It was the hardest week for all of us to know the day was coming. We decided that Alfred our vet would come to the house. We sat on the floor with Elin and April and the vet gave a sedative while I stroked his head and told him what a good dog he’d been. When they stopped Elton’s heart, he didn’t even twitch. We let all the dog say goodbye before we rolled him in a towel and carried him to the car, taking him to be cremated and leaving me to hope that, when it’s my time, I will leave this earth as peacefully as Elton John did, surrounded by those who love me.
So, this is where we part, Elton John, you will be missed, but never forgotten. We’ll miss you, until we meet again!
Rest in Peace Elton John 15.10.2020