My sweet chi-weenie crossed the rainbow bridge Wednesday night. She would have been four years old in June. Losing her is quite a shock.

The last month of her life was difficult. We were constant companions and had never been apart for more than a few hours before the last month. Nobody thought we were dealing with a life-ending problem.

A bowel issue caused her to obsessively lick herself and scream when she defecated. She wore a cone for weeks. After an eight-day stay in the UGA Veterinary Hospital–between multiple trips to the emergency room–she never got better.

In fact, her condition deteriorated. Medications treated the likely cause (colitis) and resulting symptoms. By then, however, she had so associated the pain with defecating she avoided going until she had no choice. She didn’t have a a voluntary bowel movement for weeks, creating new problems.

Wednesday afternoon, the specialist who’d been treating her called to discuss her situation. We decided to try a new medication and, if nothing changed, to put her to sleep Saturday. By 9:30 pm, her suffering had become unbearable. We returned to the ER and, less than an hour later, helped her over the rainbow bridge.

In her last days, I removed the cone to hold her in my lap for hours at a time. For weeks, she showed no interest in playing. Prior to her illness, she lived every day of her short life to the fullest. To the very end, she was excited to go for a car ride.

Tootsie’s predecessor (Toodles) was a very sweet, lovable dog who I absolutely adored. Tootsie gave me more joy in her short life than Toodles gave me in 14 years. Every single day, Tootsie challenged me, cracked me up with her antics, and impressed me with her intelligence.

Tootsie was an incredible little dog. From the day I brought her home, she gave me hours of joy each and every day. I shared videos of her cutest new antics on Facebook, leading my friends to love her too.

My FB friends/Tootsie fans helped me through the month-long struggle and made me feel better about my actions. I did what I had to do. Money didn’t force my hand. Nothing I could have done would have changed the outcome.

Tootsie got me off my ass and made me do stuff with her. All day every day, she loved me like I’ve never been loved before. I will miss her for a very long time.