Ashley’s Journey…

One of the few decent pictures I've gotten of her. I played around making the image
sepia toned, then brought back the color in the eyes. Soft blur on edges
for a vignette look. If I use flash, she blinks,
if I don't she usually moves so much it's just a blur. Like the next picture!

I just got back from the Vet Hospital to see Ashley and she looks a ton better. She's been on IV fluids for two days now to get her toxin (everything the kidneys do) levels to normal. Yesterday her numbers for her BUN values were in the 80s, where normal values are 14-36. Today she is only slightly above 40. She'll be in the hospital at least one more day, if not two.

The biggest problem is that once she gets home, she is in for lifetime treatment to minimize the kidney usage. She looks good today but could be in terrible shape once I bring her home. Essentially, I am prolonging her ability to live. There's a lot of guilt that goes along with this, especially considering that I don't like the idea of euthanasia. I don't even like the concept of capital punishment either. I don't agree with it. So I help her live comfortably by modern medicine, but I don't want to prolong her beyond her ability to choose to die. Like I said, guilt. Lot's and lot's of it.

This is actually a happy Ashley. L was scratching her ears last night

and she is sort of tucked in here enjoying the moment.

She likes gripping my hand with her wee paws. She's very judicial with the claws too!

Again, I come with the disclaimer: she is part of my family. I've always had a strong connection with my pets and animals and treat them as I would humans. I fully believe the afterlife is not based solely on how we treat our own kind but how we treat the world in total. Many people may not agree with what I am doing, but that is their decision to make.

PS: If anyone else has pets going through something like this, this site HERE has been quite helpful.