Our Baby Puppy LEO

LEO'S DEPARTURE

2009-08-30T13:48:00.003+08:00

28/08/09

What a day it was.

Got home later from lesson to find Leo all sprawled over on the floor near the gate.
He was sitting in his favorite position whenever he feels too warm.
But 28 august was a rather cool night.

Leo looked at me, panting as usual ever since a few days ago.
But this time, it's louder than usual.

Washed up, was at the laptop when I heard Leo's collar bell ringing.
He had collapsed on his butt while trying to get up.

I walked over to him and said, "Come, good boy", supporting the back of hind legs so that he could walk to wherever he wanted to be.

Leo's legs felt like jelly.
It felt as though he had lost all his muscles all at once.
I tried to lower my hands a few times to see if he could stand on his own but his butt lowered whenever I did.
There was no strength, he was walking purely on his front legs and my support from the back.

He strolled towards the gate.
Then near the alter.
Then to the path leading to our living room,

That's the path he always sat at to wait for us home.

He stopped and wobbled, just like a toddler who just learned walking before collapsing butts down.
His panting was slow and loud.

I stroked him, hoping to ease his pain when I saw him tilt to the side to gasp in more air.
I whispered to him before helping him to his side, stroking him.

Mum came over and whispered, "Leo, good boy, Mummy Papa we all love you. Just go ok?"

Leo was heaving air out more than he was taking in.
He looked upset and I kissed him by the ear and said, "Leo, good boy, Jiejie loves you, good boy" before kissing him again.

I felt his chest go slowly up and down with a few subsequent quick ones following behind.
I stroked him slowly, touching his eyes and cheeks now and then.

Then he stopped.

Leo's chest stopped moving.
I could feel his heartbeat go slower and weaker

and slower,

it's gone.

Leo, he looked peaceful.
He looks just like how he looked like all the time,
just quieter.

We're so proud of you, Leo!

You fought till the end!
You did not wait for time to come,
You were so full of energy, at the end still barking for food just like all the time.
You gave your best to life,
You never succumbed.
You got up to move around just to breathe better despite it hurting so much.
Your life, so full of pride ended with pride.

We're so proud of you and job well done, Leo!

I would say, it was a really beautiful and peaceful departure.

28/08/09

Have fun while waiting for us, Leo!
We shall meet in paradise.

PS: We love you

BABY'S NEW BEST FRIEND

2009-03-25T19:00:00.004+08:00

Baby's NEW best friend now is superpower mummy cuz she fed him, treated him like a king ever since he got half his jaw removed cuz nowadays I can only get home slightly before 7pm everyday.

Today the moment I stepped into our house, I shook my bunch of keys so hard (to Attract his Attention) and baby only bothered to stroll towards me with his semi-wagging tail after my long desperate AA attempt.

RARRRRR !!

And his eyes seemed to be saying, "ARGH! It's her again. RARRR FINE. I shall give you what you want. *wags unwillingly* "

Interesting, uh. Dogs make people who spend most time with them their best friends.

D: WHERE'S MY SHAREEE D:

Anyway, baby's woofs and barks sound a bit lao-hong now.
Just like kids without their two front teeth trying to pronounce "F" or "S".

Awww such a silly baby.

THIS IS JUST FOR YOU BABY ((:

2009-03-21T20:47:00.004+08:00

see the leaves may be fallen,
but they're still as beautiful.
let's capture this mesmerizing moment,
and keep it in with us forever.

BABY'S ONE DAY "TONT".

2009-03-13T23:36:00.007+08:00

Remembering there was once Leo ran out in the afternoon cuz someone in our family didn't lock the gates properly.

We didn't go around looking for him cuz he will usually return home after a few hours exploring and rummaging through the garbage bins around the neighborhood.

But that day baby didn't return after home for more than 6hours and we started to panic.

We went around shouting his name, shining torches at the field behind our house. And Mum was so worried that Leo would been beaten up by some gangsters cuz baby would go around chasing people he don't like.

(baby chased and barked after my friend who happened to cycle past our house once and Leo scared the shit out of him. And there was once baby went into attack mode at a garang guni man cuz he didn't like him pressing his horn)

So we searched for him till Mum couldn't take it anymore and so we had to call it a day. I was so worried that I couldn't sleep well that night and somehow I was up by 6plus am the following day (the probability of this happening is approximately zero).

And so I decided to go look for Leo again.

I didn't know where to look for him and which direction to start from and so I just stood outside my house. AND SUDDENLY (yes, just like in your primary school compositions) I saw this nervous black creature darting around at the corner of my eyes.

But by the time I turned and it was gone!
(erm.. this doesn't mean i'm fat and slow but the it was really gone that quick!)

I could hear baby's collar bell ringing and so I gave chase in whichever direction it was.
To my surprise a little boy had him chained up and was tugging him in the opposite direction baby wanted to go(which was towards our house)!

Me: HEY!

Boy: Oh yeah NAH give you back your dog.

Me: Where did you find him?

Boy: I saw him sitting there (pointing to the outside of my house) and I called him and he followed me and I brought him home. He kept crying this morning and I thought he wanted to pee. That's why I brought him out for a walk.

Me: O.o OKAY THANKS A LOT.

Okay, there were many doubts to what this little boy said but I don't really care la huh cuz I was sooooooo happy baby's back!

We thought he didn't wanna be with us anymore ):

After that incident baby still get to slip out of the house now and then when someone forgets to close the gate properly. But he's smart enough now to whimper for our attention when he's waiting outside our gate after his garbage excursion.

SMART DOG, UH!

A rare chance of him actually looking into the camera.

BABY REBELS

2009-03-09T21:55:00.000+08:00

Baby's getting really rebellious and that's making me so disappointed.

He flipped over his entire bowl of water,
topple his chicken, only eating beef,
pee on the sofa, pee on the floor,
threatened to bite me when I tried sterilizing his wound.

Rebelling for what course?

Cuz baby didn't want to wear his funnel.

=|

ARGH , jiejie didn't mean to not keep my promise!
But Dr L (Dr C quitted) said it's better to continue wearing the funnel for a week more.

So shouldn't we listen to what Dr L's suggestion, baby?

=/

Justttttttttttttt 6 more days, alright?

Interesting fact:
Everyone in our family speaks Mandarin except Leo.

BABY'S GRUMPY TODAY

2009-03-06T22:07:00.000+08:00

The moment I got home, mum said, "Hey, Leo's not eating. Quick, do your trick."

So I prepared bread with cheese with pills and waited for baby to approach me.

But the moment he tried to snatch that tiny piece of food from me,
he would scream and drop the bread and retreat and run to a corner and press his funnel against the wall.

So baby took about an hour to eat,
screaming/ dropping the food on the floor,
quickly retreat,
face the wall,
pluck up courage,
try to eat again,
succeed/ fail
and the cycle repeats just like Computing's "looping"

):

Argh~ Such a poor thing.

):

Now, even baby's self-esteem's hurt.

He's starting to press his funnel against chairs/ walls,
looking at the floor most of the time,
giving that hurt face of his cuz he doesn't like wearing the funnel,
banging against any vertical objects while trying to make his way through,
sigh when he's about to lean against his wound on the sofa to sleep.

Trust jiejie, you're still as handsome and everything will be fine, okay!

Baby, we gotta stay strong!
We just have to tahan till Sunday and bye bye to funnelssss!

:D

GOD blessed baby.

BABY'S HISTORY

2009-03-05T21:37:00.000+08:00

Puppy Leo's life wasn't as rosy as any other pretty dogs.

He was first abandoned by his ang moh owner who ditched him with my ex neighbor cuz he/she will be flying back to his/her own hometown, and cuz my ex neighbor's daughter wanted a pretty terrier instead of a black dog.

So one day, my mum happened to bump into my ex neighbor and so he suggested giving Leo to us.

(cuz I was throwing tantrums at my parents to get me a puppy when we first moved and so they bought me a Beagle, which we named Sam, which happened to be sick, which wasn't active, which we returned to be pet shop.)

Seriously, I didn't like Leo at all when I first saw him.

He was black, his fur was damn long (like Wu Bai's), and I didn't find him adorable at all.

Leo peed everywhere he wanted to during the first few weeks and I got so pissed off cuz I'll have to clean up all the time AND sterilize with Dettol after.

He would turn the house upside down whenever we leave him alone at home,
he would explore the dustbin and flip it over to check the contents inside,
he would bark at anyone who walked passed our house.
he would get so excited and unintentionally scratch you with his sharp claws.

So much so for first impression, uh.

But baby proved to be too cute to be ignored ((:

He would whimper in the middle of the night cuz he's afraid to sleep alone downstairs.
he would cry when we punish him for making mistakes,
he would nuzzle and lean against you when you're ignoring him.
he would jump around, chasing his squeaky toy ball around the house,
he would beg for food whenever we're eating,
he would show off all the different different stunts he learned in the past.

Isn't that amazing? Even animals yearn to be loved :B

Once, 12years ago, while I walking Leo, a little girl pointed to Leo and shouted to her mum, "Eeeeee!! Mummy!! The dog is black!! I don't likeeeeee!!"

I was rather upsetted by that hurtful comment.

And that's when I realised that I'd actually fallen in love with baby <3

Baby's still duper unwilling to be kissed.

BABY'S TOO CUTE

2009-03-04T20:23:00.000+08:00

Baby may be old, but you bet he's still as alert!

Puppy gets tired so easily now

PEOPLE LOOK! I can turn one ear...

AND BOTH MY EARS!

LOOK AT HIS EYES!! ((:

BABY'S SO HURT NOW

2009-03-04T19:43:00.000+08:00

Dr C called my mum yesterday at around 1plus saying, "Mdm Ang, Leo's awake! He's so strong! He's already up and barking! This is so amazing because other dogs would be resting, feeling lethargic."

Mum, "Really?? Is he barking happily, or crying?"

Dr C, "Erm, I would say he's crying. You can come fetch him home already."

Silly boy's crying. Baby, strong boys shouldn't cry!

So Leo got back home from the vet in the evening and he looked really cute with the funnel on :B

He looked really tired, really traumatized, really shocked, and really in pain.

I guess he was so nervous that he peed right at our door step, but that's alright ((:

So after settling down a little, he jumped onto the sofa and tried to sleep.
And as you guys know, he had half his lower jaw removed and whenever he tries to sleep, his muscles will relax, and he would end up resting on his wound.

It really hurts to see him jerking awake from pain all the time.

And today, for the first time after his surgery, baby's drinking and eating bread with cheese.

I'm sure it hurts a lot for him to eat and drink but thank god he's one greedy pig else I wouldn't know how to get those pills down his throat.

Leo, change your name to porky, okay?

:D

Baby, you're still so cute even with only half a jaw ((:

Stay strong puppy!

SOMETHING TO CHEER US UP

2009-03-01T19:16:00.001+08:00

So many things happened today.
Some bad, some happy.

Dr C called to inform us that Leo's blood test and X-ray looked fine, and we can go ahead with the surgery.

But the thing is, if the tumor is less than 1cm wide, the X-rays won't be able to detect it.

I'm sure the bad stuffs are just on the lips.
I'm sure God will make it stop right there.

You will, won't you?

Dad bought the 4D of the hospital's unit number (which happens to be our unit number too) for $10.

And guess what? Dad won 4D ((:

Now puppy Leo's expenses won't be a burden, I'm so happy for my parents, I'm so happy for Leo, I'm almost over the moon over such small a thing.

Baby we love you forever ((:

Sleeping ever so soundly ((:

TODAY DEATH CONFRONTED ME

2009-03-01T12:06:00.000+08:00

I was so naive to think that we just have to remove the lumps.
I was so naive to think that the lumps won't ever get any bigger.
I was so naive to think that it will never be something dangerous.

I was really naive.

Today, mum and I brought Leo to the vet to have a look at the lumps on his mouth.

Though the wait wasn't long, it felt like eternity.

"As from what I can see, it's black and irregular. So my guess is it's ..."

Um, cancer. I forgot the name of this cancer but what I can never forget is that it'll be a nasty one.

"We have to get rid of it immediately. This kind of cancer cells spread very quickly and it might get into the throat, or invade the lungs"

I couldn't control myself. And I cried.

I looked at Leo, how is it possible, that, our brave noisy little puppy get cancer?

"We will have to remove part of his lower jaw. Not just the lumps"

I thought cancer is just about removing the deadly cells.
I thought it'll be over with medication.

Will he survive?
Will surgery be too tormenting for him?

There were so many questions flooding into my head. I was so scared.

I am afraid to face the fact,
I am afraid to face the consequences after the surgery,
I am afraid to lose Leo.

"We have to do a check on him to see if he's fit enough to go through surgery. And even if he is, will you able to keep his wounds clean and keep it from infection? Are you able to feed him medication?"

The vet continued to type on her keyboard. My mind was in a blank. I don't know what to say, I don't know what to do.

Dr C looked at us, "Will you be able to do it?"

Leo's our baby, how is it possible that we see him suffer and let the lumps get bigger?

According to the vet, it'll get really painful. Leo won't be able to pick up food, things will get worse.

I looked at Dr C, "Yes, I think we'll be able to do it. We'll go ahead with surgery."

Today someone slapped me awake to reality.
Today I realised our baby is such a strong boy.
Today, death confronted me.