Clyde.

We put our beloved boy, Clyde, to sleep on Thursday and we’re heartbroken and miss him dearly. Probably one of the hardest decisions we've had to make as family. After a tough year with some health problems we knew the time would come eventually but it ended up coming much sooner than we were prepared for.  Clyde had his annual exam scheduled for Thursday cause he was due for some vaccines and we planned to talk to our vet about how we planned to treat him (and the extent of treatment ) down the road for some reoccurring health issues resulting from a surgery he had earlier this year.  Bennett, Emmie & I took Clyde for a walk around the block in the early afternoon and he appeared happy and ok. He spent the afternoon outside with Suzie and I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary aside from him vomiting a bit which was starting to be a daily occurrence so I didn't think anything of it. I left to go pick up Cal and take the kids to my mom’s so we could take Clyde to the vet and minutes after I left, Ian got home from work to pick up Clyde around 3:30 and by then he was acting very sick, lethargic and weak.   By the time I met Ian and Clyde at the vet he was very ill, having a hard time breathing and his heart was in a-fib.  Chest x-rays show that he was coming down with another case of pneumonia (the second time in 2 months).

The timing of Clyde getting so gravely ill, coincidentally on the day that he was scheduled for his annual exam (which has been schedule for nearly a month) and literally just shortly before his appointment time, baffles me. He was not acting out of the ordinary that morning and was just fine on our walk…  I have no idea what happened in those 3 hours between our walk and getting to the vet and how he got so sick, but my hope is that maybe it was God’s way off telling us it was his time.  He was 12.5 years old and I would do anything to have had just a little more time with him.

Clyde was loving, extremely loyal (some would say to a fault), protective, kind,  nurturing, a bit neurotic, loved the kids more than anything, was so good to his sister (Suzie), he lived for bird hunting, would get so excited at breakfast & dinner time and always let us know when it was time to eat, was a nightmare to take on walks for the majority of his life cause he pulled so much in excitement, ate several pairs of Ian’s shoes throughout his lifetime, always joined in whenever were singing (‘Happy Birthday’ was his favorite), opened presents like it was his job and loved holidays and birthdays, got so excited anytime company came over, thought the world of my dad, was a bit dramatic, was resilient, lived in more homes with us than I can count, in his final months he was happiest when laying in the living room in front of the slider, had the kindest eyes.

RIP Billy Clyde (Clyde, Clyders, Cyber Snake, Clydlevice, Vili Fualaau, Villanova). You’ll be forever missed & always remember.  2/8/2002 – 10/9/2014

Smiley Clyde

and some more recent pics...