Donatello

by John and Sherry Warren
(Grand Prairie, Texas)

Donnatello

In the spring of 1999, Sherry found an apricot Miniature Poodle up for rescue on the internet. He was fostered with a lady in Austin who worked with Fuzzy Face Pet Rescue in Fort Worth, run by Billie Ann Brady. The note with his photo said that his owner had passed away and that the family had sent him to a kill shelter.

Donny was 8 years old and had a bad front leg from an old injury. Sherry and I discussed him and felt that he would be hard to place due to his age and injury. Even though we already had three toys, we decided that we needed to help him. We contacted Billie Ann and arranged to have Donny transported from Austin to her within a week. From his photo, Donny looked like a small Miniature so we were somewhat shocked to see that he was almost the height of a small Standard when we visited with Billie Ann. We took him home that night and he settled in very quickly. Despite having been neutered only after he was rescued, Donny raised his leg in the house only once the first week and never peed or pooped in the house until he became very ill later.

Donny just loved to be with us and his only wish was to be in the recliner with us or on the bed. He was very protective of Sherry, but was not prone to biting or aggressive behavior. Despite his leg injury, Donny could run, race, and jump with all the smaller three.

In January of 2003, we observed that Donny was starting to get cataracts in his eyes (he was 12 now), but he seemed to be in good health otherwise. In August of that year, he fell off the couch and seemed very disoriented. By the next day when we took him to the vet, we knew something was wrong. Within the week he became almost blind and deaf. Our vet gave us a referral to a specialty clinic in Dallas and the neurologist there told us Donny had a brain tumor. While radiation was an option it was incurable and we chose not to put him through the trauma of CAT scans and treatments that would not prolong his life that much. The neurologist said the tumor was not painful and put him on prednisone and it gave im an additional 3 1/2 months. Even when he was failing fast he still valiantly tried to make it to the door to go outside to potty.

With a great heaviness in our hearts, Sherry and I knew it was time to let Donny go the week of Christmas 2003. His quality of life had deterioated and it was very difficult for him to walk and stand. He loved to ride in the car and he thoroughly enjoyed his last ride even though he could not see at all.

We could not have asked for a better poodle than Donny. He was a handsome boy and a great companion. We are thankful for the time we had with him and wish it could have been longer.