Charlie
A donation was made in memory of Charlie by the doctors and staff at Valley Veterinary Clinic on Dec 10, 2021.
January 17, 2022
This is our story about our Beloved Charlie:
We have been married for over 67 years and we have always had great dogs in our life. But after the loss of our last dog Jacky, who passed away from kidney failure, we didn’t think we could handle getting attached to another dog. As our dogs are part of our family and we didn’t want the possibility of being heartbroken again, but that all changed when Charlie came into our lives.
When the complex local maintenance man knew how devastated we were with the passing of Jacky, he knew that we missed having a dog. He knew how much joy they brought to our life and they give unconditional love. So, he came over one day with a dog for us to look at. His name was Charlie and he was a recent rescue dog, who lived with an older lady who passed away from cancer and her kids could not take care of him. We don’t know how old he was, we believe he was 5 years old, but he was the most precious dog with a personality that everyone loved. All the neighbors just fell in love with him and knew him by his name.
From the first time we saw Charlie we knew he belonged to our family. We connected with him instantly and he was immediately the right fit for our family. He had such a gentle soul and a lovable demeanor with a personality that everyone can relate to. He would greet everyone at the door and you couldn’t help notice him, because he wouldn’t let you. The relationship we had with him was special, he loved going for rides, playing with the ball, and he had a strut like no other dog and he loved to talk (bark) and even dance for his food.
He went through a lot in his life and life was cut too short. He suffered with a protein problem for over three years, which we had under control until he was diagnosed with Diabetes. That’s when he started to fail, he lost half of his body weight and battled between high and low sugar levels. This was impacted by his protein level when we started him on insulin. He immediately lost his vision right away, like within days. But that didn’t stop Charlie at all, he adapted to his new lifestyle. He was on a strict diet and was fed twice daily, so he could handle his insulin shots. He had his good days and bad days, but more good days, up until he hurt his toe which quickly became infected. We tried to take care of it through medicine, until the infection over took two of his toes and they had to be removed. He was a survivor and survived the initial surgery, until his post-surgery appointment when we found out he had a blood clot which caused his leg to die, in a five-day period. The doctor mentioned that the next step would be to amputate his leg. We would have done anything for Charlie, we had in-depth conversation with his doctor. This was the most difficult decision we ever had to make. The doctor advised us that Charlie was very weak and might not survive the amputation. The doctor refused to do the surgery and said that over the next few days Charlie would be in a lot of pain and medication would not help him get better. So, we took him home so he would be surrounded by our love and know how much we loved him. We spent his final days caring for him, as he was getting weaker by the hour. We rocked him for hours through the night, as all he just wanted was to be cuddled and loved.
So, with a very heavy heart, we decided that it wasn’t fair to Charlie to be in pain, even though we loved him so much, we couldn’t do that to him. We struggled with the hardest decision we have ever had to make, but we didn’t want Charlie to be in pain. Charlie gained his dog wings and he is still looking over us and he will always be part of our family.
We have had the same veterinarian for many years, Alex Hamilton. Alex and his staff have always shown compassion for our dogs, especially the last couple of them, Jacky and Charlie. They all had a special empathy not only for us but especially with Charlie. The kind-hearted care and much love that they took meant so much for us. Their care went above and beyond when it came to Charlie and always making sure he was comfortable.
It is so important to have a veterinarian with much love and compassion for our pets. To take care of other pets, like they are part of their family. They get attached to them and it is essential are part of their relationship. We felt that this was one reason we had Charlie longer than we were supposed to. Its unconditional love, not only at home but also when he had to go to the Vet and get checked out.
Please enjoy some pictures of Charlie and you will see how big of an impact he made on our lives.
Rest in peace Charlie,
Love, Florence and Joe Falco aka. Mom and Dad
This is our story about our Beloved Charlie:
We have been married for over 67 years and we have always had great dogs in our life. But after the loss of our last dog Jacky, who passed away from kidney failure, we didn’t think we could handle getting attached to another dog. As our dogs are part of our family and we didn’t want the possibility of being heartbroken again, but that all changed when Charlie came into our lives.
When the complex local maintenance man knew how devastated we were with the passing of Jacky, he knew that we missed having a dog. He knew how much joy they brought to our life and they give unconditional love. So, he came over one day with a dog for us to look at. His name was Charlie and he was a recent rescue dog, who lived with an older lady who passed away from cancer and her kids could not take care of him. We don’t know how old he was, we believe he was 5 years old, but he was the most precious dog with a personality that everyone loved. All the neighbors just fell in love with him and knew him by his name.
From the first time we saw Charlie we knew he belonged to our family. We connected with him instantly and he was immediately the right fit for our family. He had such a gentle soul and a lovable demeanor with a personality that everyone can relate to. He would greet everyone at the door and you couldn’t help notice him, because he wouldn’t let you. The relationship we had with him was special, he loved going for rides, playing with the ball, and he had a strut like no other dog and he loved to talk (bark) and even dance for his food.
He went through a lot in his life and life was cut too short. He suffered with a protein problem for over three years, which we had under control until he was diagnosed with Diabetes. That’s when he started to fail, he lost half of his body weight and battled between high and low sugar levels. This was impacted by his protein level when we started him on insulin. He immediately lost his vision right away, like within days. But that didn’t stop Charlie at all, he adapted to his new lifestyle. He was on a strict diet and was fed twice daily, so he could handle his insulin shots. He had his good days and bad days, but more good days, up until he hurt his toe which quickly became infected. We tried to take care of it through medicine, until the infection over took two of his toes and they had to be removed. He was a survivor and survived the initial surgery, until his post-surgery appointment when we found out he had a blood clot which caused his leg to die, in a five-day period. The doctor mentioned that the next step would be to amputate his leg. We would have done anything for Charlie, we had in-depth conversation with his doctor. This was the most difficult decision we ever had to make. The doctor advised us that Charlie was very weak and might not survive the amputation. The doctor refused to do the surgery and said that over the next few days Charlie would be in a lot of pain and medication would not help him get better. So, we took him home so he would be surrounded by our love and know how much we loved him. We spent his final days caring for him, as he was getting weaker by the hour. We rocked him for hours through the night, as all he just wanted was to be cuddled and loved.
So, with a very heavy heart, we decided that it wasn’t fair to Charlie to be in pain, even though we loved him so much, we couldn’t do that to him. We struggled with the hardest decision we have ever had to make, but we didn’t want Charlie to be in pain. Charlie gained his dog wings and he is still looking over us and he will always be part of our family.
We have had the same veterinarian for many years, Alex Hamilton. Alex and his staff have always shown compassion for our dogs, especially the last couple of them, Jacky and Charlie. They all had a special empathy not only for us but especially with Charlie. The kind-hearted care and much love that they took meant so much for us. Their care went above and beyond when it came to Charlie and always making sure he was comfortable.
It is so important to have a veterinarian with much love and compassion for our pets. To take care of other pets, like they are part of their family. They get attached to them and it is essential are part of their relationship. We felt that this was one reason we had Charlie longer than we were supposed to. Its unconditional love, not only at home but also when he had to go to the Vet and get checked out.
Please enjoy some pictures of Charlie and you will see how big of an impact he made on our lives.
Rest in peace Charlie,
Love, Florence and Joe Falco aka. Mom and Dad
