[Gpdd] Rainbow Bridge: Grace: January 15, 2004 - May 22, 2010

[ME]

It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of Grace, my first little Silkie.  It didn't come as a surprise since she's been slowing down for quite some time, taking longer and longer naps during the day.  Then three weeks ago she had a sudden weight loss that caused me to start supplementing with a bit of hand feeding.  Two weeks ago she had a day of diarrhea.  And since then, she was seeming to get better (she gained most of the weight back), but rested and slept even more.  I thought about taking her to the vet, but since she really didn't have any symptoms besides the weight loss and sleeping, I didn't know what he'd be able to do.  I figured she'd rather just stay at home during her final days, in the company of her family.  Yesterday she really perked up ... eating and moving around quite a bit ... hardly ever sleeping.  I thought maybe she was getting back to normal, but she passed away during the night, sometime between midnight and 7:30 a.m., while she was munching on some hay.

It seems like yesterday, that day in January, when I first saw this little ball of white fluff ... she was so curious about everything ... not one of those that huddled in fear in a corner.  She was a cute little thing, but I didn't want to bring her home since I could tell that she was going to have long hair, even though she was only a few weeks old.  But I made a mistake ... I held her ... and she was so alert ... not a hint of timidity in her ... my heart melted ... and I just said I'd have to just learn to deal with the long hair.  Sure enough, that hair grew ... and I learned how to give haircuts ... she actually never minded them ... except for when I was clipping hair on her back end.

She was the most gentle little thing, living up to her name, and loved to cuddle and give kisses.  She'd purr her thanks when her papa would bring romaine.  She always acted youthful ... even sitting in the food bowl when she grew older ... it was her favorite place to be ... either there or under the water bottle ... and she did like to play with the water bottle ... she'd drain it dry and then rattle it until it got filled up again.

Now we're down to four ... after the passing of Liberty last November ... the house feels so empty.  And with our youngest (Harmony and Melody) being over three years old, I guess it's time to find a couple new faces to love ... well, there's plenty of time for that ... though I have been having the urge to bring some new babies home.