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Two and a half years ago my wife and I (empty nesters and loving it) lost our Schnauzer of 13 years to stomach cancer. He was gone in a week and we were quite devastated. When
my wife got home from work she would just sit in the car and cry knowing our dog wouldn't be inside waiting to greet her. I wasn't much better and felt like I was breathing but couldn't
catch my breathe. After a few weeks it started to ease and I was on the edge of a new normal when she starts sending me Pet Finder links. I said please don't do this, I can't go
through this again. So then I started looking too
and found a dog two hours away with problems. A Schnauzer found dying, passing blood, starved and dehydrated, collapsed on
the street was taken to an animal hospital, they cut her open and removed a bladder stone the size of a chicken egg. Zipped her up and put her in foster care for adoption. Age
guessed at 7-8 years based on teeth. I said nobody is going to want a dog with health issues, much less a dog this age, but I will. She said REALLY??? I said sure, so off we went
and we met our Gracie. She so so emaciated that when we took her to the University of Illinois Vet School (best in Illinois) we wrote down Schnauzer and they crossed it out and
wrote mixed. We had a DNA test done and she is 100% pure bred Schnauzer back through four generations in every dog. After she gained 6 pounds (a miniture Schnauzer) there is
no question or doubt what she is. She also was under so much stress on the street she acquired a grade 4 heart murmur. She now is in congestive hear failure, but you would never
know it to see her. She is on several different meds every day and some aren't cheap. Out of curiosity the other day my wife ran a quick spread sheet of what we have spent on this
dog in the last two and a half years. Right now we are at $9,780, hence the nick name 10k. My only goal was to make this poor dogs life as good as it could be for the rest of her
days, she is so sweet and so loving, neither of us care about the $. She has been worth every penny and my life would not have been as rich without her. The $10k will not have any
bearing on how my life turns out, but not having Gracie would.
my wife got home from work she would just sit in the car and cry knowing our dog wouldn't be inside waiting to greet her. I wasn't much better and felt like I was breathing but couldn't
catch my breathe. After a few weeks it started to ease and I was on the edge of a new normal when she starts sending me Pet Finder links. I said please don't do this, I can't go
through this again. So then I started looking too
and found a dog two hours away with problems. A Schnauzer found dying, passing blood, starved and dehydrated, collapsed onthe street was taken to an animal hospital, they cut her open and removed a bladder stone the size of a chicken egg. Zipped her up and put her in foster care for adoption. Age
guessed at 7-8 years based on teeth. I said nobody is going to want a dog with health issues, much less a dog this age, but I will. She said REALLY??? I said sure, so off we went
and we met our Gracie. She so so emaciated that when we took her to the University of Illinois Vet School (best in Illinois) we wrote down Schnauzer and they crossed it out and
wrote mixed. We had a DNA test done and she is 100% pure bred Schnauzer back through four generations in every dog. After she gained 6 pounds (a miniture Schnauzer) there is
no question or doubt what she is. She also was under so much stress on the street she acquired a grade 4 heart murmur. She now is in congestive hear failure, but you would never
know it to see her. She is on several different meds every day and some aren't cheap. Out of curiosity the other day my wife ran a quick spread sheet of what we have spent on this
dog in the last two and a half years. Right now we are at $9,780, hence the nick name 10k. My only goal was to make this poor dogs life as good as it could be for the rest of her
days, she is so sweet and so loving, neither of us care about the $. She has been worth every penny and my life would not have been as rich without her. The $10k will not have any
bearing on how my life turns out, but not having Gracie would.
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