In Honor Of Our Sweet Boy, Otis

This is Otis, our 9 year old Shih Tzu whom sadly, we lost on Monday evening. Otis was adopted from the Santa Monica animal shelter in 2010, he was plagued with allergies. They were so bad that he was constantly red, had yeast growing all over his skin and we would wake up most mornings to bloody patches of skin from his chewing all night. It took several years, and countless different vets until we finally found a solution in 2013. Otis was able to live a happy allergy free life for several years and then the cysts started to appear, with each new cyst we made a trip to the vet he was sedated and the cysts were removed (all of them being above the skin). Suddenly, in January 2017 Otis began losing weight rapidly, only 13 pounds to begin with he got down to 10 1/2 and we knew something was wrong. We took him to our vet, they did an ultrasound and discovered a mucocele on his gallbladder, we rushed him to the emergency hospital for surgery immediately. Amazingly Otis recovered from this surgery in just a matter of weeks, and in fact he was more alive than he had ever been. We were enjoying long walks, lots of play time, and hours of cuddling. About a month ago Otis began losing weight again, not wanting to eat his food (which by the way is cooked fresh). One day we came in from a walk and he was sitting their like a good boy patiently waiting for his treat when he collapsed. He came to pretty quickly but we knew it was time for another visit to the vet. First thought at the vet was heart disease, then pulmonary hypertension only to find out that it was pneumonia. While he was in the hospital this time the Dr called to ask if he could aspirate a cyst located on his chest, under his skin to determine if it was something to be concerned about. Of course we agreed. Three days later, the call came, Otis has cancer! We scheduled an appointment with the oncologist and we went on treating him like a prince while we awaited the next round of medical treatment. Somehow, I think Otis new that we received that call, I think he knew that he had cancer and it was worse than WE knew. He continued to defy eating even when we tried to hand feed him, his breathing started to become shallow until finally he was gasping for air. Two days before his oncology appointment we took him to the emergency clinic for oxygen, he stayed overnight and when we picked him up the next morning his condition had worsened. As he gasped for every breath we knew, this was not about us anymore. Our loving Otis was suffering beyond belief and we had to say goodbye. With him straddled in our laps we gave as many kisses as we could, we pet him and told him everything was going to be alright and we let him go. No more pain! If you have taken the time to read this whole story you know how much Otis meant to us. He was one of a kind, and we loved him to the fullest. We would love to honor his memory by collecting donations and purchasing needed items for our local shelter. Without these shelters we never would have found Otis, he may have never been saved and given the chance to live a happy life.