Lexy the Collie Dog

Published on Jan 1st, 2008

By Marc Schouten and Cerys Hudson-Jones (United Kingdom)

Our beloved Lexy came into our lives on 30th October 1999 when we selected him from the Manchester Dogs Home. Nothing was known about him apart from him being a stray. He didn't even have a name. He was estimated to be around 6 years old. We received so much love and affection from him over the years and we can never pay him back enough for that. In 2004 he started to walk more and more slowly on his walkies and couldn't make it all the way to the park we would usually take him 3 times a day. As the year went on he became slower and slower, seemed to sleep loads more and just became noticeably older. He started to get really fussy about food and wouldn't eat his usual stuff, so we had to prepare his food in a different way each time, but he always seemed to go off it after getting excited about it initially.

On the 11th January 2005 he lost his appetite completely although he was still drinking normally. We took him to the vet on the 14th and she detected a heart murmur. He also had a blood test. On Saturday the 15th the results showed he had kidney failure which explained all his symptoms. On Monday 17th he was hospitalized and put on an IV drip to 'flush through' his kidneys but on Wednesday we received the call to come and collect him because his kidneys were really giving up now and it was thought he had only 48 hours left. We took him home and made him as comfortable and warm as possible as he was unable to regulate his body temperature and was shivering a lot. He still had no appetite at all, not even for ham, cheese or pate, all of which he used to love so much. He still seemed quite alert and hopes arose that maybe the vet had been wrong. On Thursday night he suddenly deteriorated a lot and on Friday morning 21st January 2005 we had to ask the vet to put him to sleep.

The hardest decision we ever had to make, but it would have been so unfair on our good boy to keep him going. We held him and cried as he passed away. We took him home and put him in a special place in the garden and covered it up with a large blue plant pot (same color as his lead and collar). We miss him so terribly much, he's always in our minds and hearts. We can't yet bring ourselves to clear out his cupboard or put away his bed or toys. We just don't feel we can let go yet. We miss his cuddles and kisses, his affectionate look in his beautiful brown eyes and dread when we no longer find any stray hairs around the house or his smell goes from his bed.

He was such a good boy, our wonderful Lexy, and will forever be in our hearts as our beautiful boy.