My Furbabies – Lupa

My second pet that I adopted on my own was a German Shepherd Dog (GSD) named Lupa. I got her in October of 1995 after she had had her first litter of puppies. I worked as a receptionist/technician for a veterinary clinic in Richardson, TX, and one of my coworkers was a GSD breeder. Lupa spent some time at the clinic and I saw that she was the perfect dog. When the “breeder” tech decided to switch to Rottweilers for her breed, I got a chance to adopt my girl. I couldn’t say yes faster and she went home with me right after she had weaned her pups.

Lupa had hip dysplasia in one of her hips which caused her to limp when she gained 15 pounds and we lived on the 2nd floor while I was in veterinary school at Texas A&M. I quickly switched her food to the Hill’s Light version and she lost the 15 extra pounds in one semester. I didn’t have issues with her limping after that. She was mostly a very healthy dog. She was timid, but not fearful to the point of aggression, so she was always a favorite at our school functions. She was a little fearful of storms, but it was always manageable with some extra love rather than medications. She didn’t start having any medical issues until she was geriatric. She grew a tumor on her spleen, but it was benign, so I removed that organ surgically. My famous major surgery undertaking while I was 7 months pregnant with my 2nd child. After the surgery, she started having a lot of cognitive issues and was more reserved and confused. She still had a lot of spunk when greeting us upon arrival at home and when she went outside to play in the yard with our other dog. I did spent about 1-2 hours a day coaxing her to eat toward the end since she had difficulty smelling her food and just wasn’t all that interested in eating. She also developed hypothyroidism in her old age which responded beautifully to thyroid supplementation. Otherwise her bloodwork was always normal, so there wasn’t a whole lot more that I was able to do to help her pull out of her funk. About 2 years after her surgery, she had a rough night of fearful pacing because of our Texas storms. This caused her old legs to give out and she was not able to rise or walk in her hind end. At 13 years of age, I was ready to let her go and had a colleague of mine help me send my big girl over the rainbow bridge. She was the first pet of my own that I euthanized and I still shed a tear for her anytime I talk about her.