On a sad note today, we had to say goodbye to our little shih tzu girl, Kyla. Kyla first came to us back in July as a foster from our local shelter, and we quickly fell in love with her. I tried to resist adopting her knowing that such a sweet, lovely, and silly girl would be easily adopted, but once we found out the shelter felt like she would be difficult to place, we decided to adopt. Kyla was a 13 year old with arthritis and a large lump on her jaw, and these were issues that would have made adoption difficult.
But Kyla was so full of life and love, my wife and I just had to adopt her, but we didn't know how long she would have. We just knew that we would make her life as comfortable and full of love as possible. Shortly after adopting, Kyla's lump grew suddenly and quickly, and we had the lump removed along with part of her lower jaw. We discovered that the lump was a mast cell tumor, and we knew that she wouldn't be with us very long.
Despite having a portion of her lower jaw removed, Kyla never slowed down, and she stayed sweet and loving to the end. Unfortunately, another lump recently formed, and over the last two days, she quickly went down hill. We said goodbye to Kyla this morning as she went to the rainbow bridge. We are saddened and heartbroken. Six months seems like such a short time, but we loved her very much. In the end, we were able to give her six months filled with love, and she was able to bring a sweetness and a silliness into our lives. We will cherish our memories of her.