Our Muttville girl, Gumball (fka Flash), passed away on Valentine’s Day. It seems like an oddly fitting day given the fact her heart just grew too large for her body. The doctors think it was congestive heart failure, but I’m pretty sure it was just too full of love. ❤️
We received Gumball as a foster on May 1, 2020. Since the shelter was closed to the public due to the COVID shutdown, we switched our on-site volunteering at Muttville to fostering. Gumball was our 4th Muttville foster during Covid and wormed her way right into our family. When Caran Fisher first called us about Gumball, she told us it was a boy dog coming from Merced named “Flash.” The next day she told us that they discovered it was actually a female dog and her name was changed to Gumball. Gumball arrived at Muttville with long matted fur that was quickly shaved away.
Gumball came to us with very few teeth; the ones she had were rotten. She had a large thyroid tumor and many smaller mammary tumors. She was estimated to be 12 years old. Our plan was to keep her until she could be spayed and have her remaining teeth removed, and then during her recovery from those procedures. Mission Vet Clinic wasn’t necessarily planning to remove her thyroid tumor, but thankfully did so. It proved to be malignant and it was unknown whether the cancer had spread. It was also unknown whether her mammary tumors were malignant or not.
We were told that she likely had somewhere between 3 to 6 months left to live given all of her issues. Given her limited time left and how attached she became to my daughter Kati, we decided that we would keep her so she could spend her last months with us and not have to be bounced around again. We knew she was on very limited time and told ourselves it wouldn’t be too hard to say goodbye to her when it was time, since we knew full well she only had a little time left. We were just focused on making her last months as comfortable as possible.
Shortly after we adopted Gumball, she had a few episodes that a trip to the vet ER helped us figure out were caused by heart disease. She began having echocardiograms at Muttville every few months and began taking daily heart medicine. With her heart & thyroid medicine, no more rotten teeth and so much love she began to blossom. (See her transformation photo here.) After a few months where she seemed to only sleep, she became energized and literally took over our house. She quickly let our other three dogs know that she was in charge. ;) She had the most adorable personality. She loved the pack she became part of and never wanted to miss a walk with them, but she spent every other minute sitting or laying right next to one of us – typically me or Kati. She was a real people dog and loved to be loved and give love.
Her 3 to 6 months with us turned into more than 2 years and nine months. She quickly became everyone’s favorite – she was just so so special. Gumball absolutely loved being part of our family and I can’t imagine our family without her. And so much for it being easy to say goodbye to her – we are all devastated and miss her so much.
The good news is that Gumball was fine right up until a few hours before she died. Her congestive heart failure came on very suddenly. Once we knew that we would have to put her down, we decided to wait for our daughters to drive home from Santa Clara University so they could say goodbye to her and be with us. But while waiting for them, she died in my arms. They arrived in time to see her and give her a last kiss.
I want you to know that we are forever indebted to Muttville for everything you did for Gumball, and for all you do for dogs like Gumball on a daily basis. Gumball came to you well over-the-hill and with many health issues. But Muttville made it so she then had almost 3 more full years of happiness being a part of a family who loved her so much.
Kristen (and Jimmy, Maggie & Kati) Walter
2/23/23
