Clemi was saved by a wonderful vet in South Carolina when the owner, who had never been to this vet before, brought Clemi in and asked to have her euthanized because she was "old and dying". Clemi was only 8 1/2 years old at the time. The vet examined her and found she was overall a very healthy girl and her only ailments were a urinary tract and ear infection as well as dry eye in both of her eyes that had not been treated. Her left eye was so damaged from the dry eye that she was blind in that eye. The vet asked the owner if in lieu of euthansaia would she sign Clemi over to her instead and the owner agreed. She treated Clemi and was looking for a good home for her.

Coincidentally, my friend Heather Lilly had moved to South Carolina from Maryland recently and used the same vet for her Boxers. When the vet told her about Clemi, Heather called and asked me if I knew anyone who would be interested in adopting a senior girl. I had lost my last 2 old girls, Cassye and Amee, not long before and missed having a senior girl in my house so told Heather I would be happy to adopt Clemi! We adopted Clemi in October 2012 and we loved her for the next 2 1/2 years as if she had been with us all her life.

When Clemi first arrived my vet found mammary tumors that we had to have removed. It was an expensive surgery but I had 2 friends who heard about Clemi's surgery and offered to donate to my vet office to help with the surgery costs! What a blessing they were to me! I am so very thankful for their kindness in helping me! Clemi was a funny girl, she LOVED her balls and got obsessed with them playing and barking at them. When a ball rolled under the coffee table, or any piece of furniture, she would bark at us until we retrieved it for her! Clemi was not much on snuggling but she did like to lay next to you on the couch. However, if you petted or loved on her too much, she would get very excited and then it was off to find a ball to play with again! She had so much energy even at 11 years old.

Sadly, Clemi developed Degenerative Myelopathy (DM) early in the fall of 2014 then sometime in mid-February 2015, she stopped playing with her balls. That March she started having violent Grand Mal seizures and broke out in hives that covered her entire body from head to tail. She was not the same Clemi after the seizures started and she seemed so very sad, it broke our hearts. We suspect the cause was likely a brain tumor.

On March 12, 2015, my vet came to our home to let her go. I held Clemi in my arms as she passed away and spoke to her the entire time to comfort her and let her know I was there with her at the end. I wanted my voice to be the last thing she heard as she left us and make her passing as peaceful as possible. Even though we only had 2 1/2 years with this beautiful girl, we were incredibly blessed to have had her in our life.

Adopting a senior dog has been an experience I would gladly do again. Most people do not want an old dog because their time is more limited with you, but it isn't about how much time, it's about being able to provide an unwanted senior a home where they are loved and adored for whatever amount of precious time they have left. So many senior dogs die alone in shelters or are waiting in a rescue for their forever home because no one wants to adopt them. All a senior dog desires is to be a part of a family who cares for them and to have a home with a comfy couch or bed where they can take their afternoon naps. Every dog deserves to leave this life knowing they were loved to the very end, and there is no gift more precious you can give than to give the gift of love and family to a senior dog who has been left without a home in their golden years.

Having Clemi as part of our family certainly enriched our lives and we loved her as much as if she had come to us when she was just a puppy. We wouldn't change a single precious moment.