Memorials
If you would like to memorialize any of your deceased companions, please email text and photo of the memorial to m_alt@burkeveterinaryclinic.com.
Cats: Chelsea | Topper | Cleo | Marky | Leah | Robin | Sasha | Cosby | Simba | Lovie | Cindy & Mindy | Roxeanne | Leila | Duchess | Benjamin | Jedi
Dogs: Cecilia | Max | Daisy | Sally | Maggie Manning | Binky | Tinkerbell | Bryn | Goldie | Shannon | Nikki | Merlin | Britta | Jacob | Calypso | Belle | Billy Bob | Duchess | Shayne | Maggie | Wendy | Cinnamon | Shadow | Nutmeg | Bailey | Simon | Hugo | Jeter | Adidas | Cal | Snowie | Jenna | Duke | Makoti | Taylor | Sadie | Lady | Hemingway | Cartman
Benjamin
04/01/1997 - 06/14/2011
Tarantula paws
clump and kick rug; seize the mouse!
Autumn afternoon
~~
Kelly Katz
Jenna
Our sweet precious Jenna was with us for nine years, two months and six days. It seemed a short time but she gave us a life-time of memories. God brought Jenna into our lives through a neighbor's girlfriend when she was five years old. She came to us at the perfect time. She has been such a blessing to us! Our Brown-Eyed Girl was our sweet, spunky, Furry Friend--our beautiful Eskie (American Eskimo Dog). Jenna was well-behaved but not always obedient. She was a part of our daily routines. Even though our Puppy-Love couldn't talk, she communicated well with us. Jenna let us know when she was hungry, needed to go out, wanted a walk or when it was time for us to go to bed. We miss our Jenna but we will always remember the joyful times we had with her.
Duke
Adopted just before his 10th birthday, Duke loved his new life for our 2 years 3 months together. A gentle giant with an “assertive” personality, Duke taught us a great deal and became our valiant, brilliant, goofy and enthusiastic companion. Adopting this senior dog brought amazing rewards. Sincerest thanks to the staff and especially Dr. Alt for your outstanding care, expertise and compassion. Duke, you big, handsome lug – we love you. (May 15, 1999-June 22, 2011) – Sue and Mike
Makoti
Makoti died late July 30th, 2011. We think she was about 15, and had been with us since November, 1999. She had a tumor on her heart, and there was just no good way to deal with it, so we let her go as peacefully as we could.
She was our first rescue from Potomac Valley Pekingese Club, a bit fearful at first, but she quickly became the Queen of the House. One day, we came home to find she had made her throne out of the kitchen table. She was just sitting up there, wagging her tail at us. Whenever she went outside, she would come back in, turn around and look at you & not move until you had properly greeted her with a good petting.
As she aged, she mellowed into a very sweet, very loving little girl. Whenever something met with her approval, or she was very interested in something, she would let us know with a throaty “Woowoo”. It was our favorite song. She was the healthiest of all our dogs for her entire life, and when she stopped eating, we really worried. We took her to the ER, thinking she would have to spend the night but would be back home soon. Unfortunately, that was not what happened and, very suddenly, she was gone. I am thankful that I was able to be with her at the end.
She was known by many names – Hotie, Hoter Boter, Mouse-koti, but she will forever be our Little Makoti Girl, and we thank PVPC for taking her in and letting us find each other. She was very, very special.
Taylor
Taylor was found as a stray on the streets of Wilmington, NC about 12 years ago. He was taken to the shelter, where he tested positive for heartworm. He was scheduled to be destroyed, but before they could do it, someone fell for his spirit and playfulness and decided to just try to find him a rescue group to take him. Somehow, they found ours in Va, and the group called us.
My folks lived in Wilmington, so it seemed like fate was pointing us to foster this little guy back to health. My wife & I decided that, with four other dogs & two cats already, we were NOT keeping him. She went to pick him up and didn't even make it out of NC before she called to tell me how wonderful he was. I stood firm for almost a week before I threw in the towel & renamed him. It was a decision that we never regretted. He fit well in our lives and in our little family, and we are much richer for having had him. He was our one dog who just loved being a dog. He had all the playfulness and joy that every dog should have.
He had a very long & happy life with us. His last few moments were spent being petted and fussed over by four kids outside the vets office, and he died surrounded by people who loved him. His passing was about as peaceful as anyone could hope for. He was loved by everyone in the neighborhood, and the kids next door called him "Taylor the Brave". He will be missed by all of us.
Sadie
August 2000 - August 15th 2011
I have always had a dog around my whole life. They were each great in there own way but Sadie was the
sweetest dog I ever had. She became part of our family in 2000 by way of someone renting a room in our
house had brought her home. My mother thought she wasn't being properly cared for and fell in love with her.
She started taking care of Sadie and we all loved her with out hesitation. She was a Keeshound and looked
like a little black bear. She was a great guard dog so no one could ever sneak up on us. Sadie became sick suddenly in July 2011
and I had a horrible feeling that it was not good because she wasn't eating much and had been up sick every day, sometimes
more then once. So I took her in and she was diagnosed with cancer. She was 11 years old. She loved people, especially kids and other
animals. She loved to play with them and always gave everyone kisses. I did everything I could to save her - even spoon feed her baby food.
It has only been a few weeks now since she is gone and I miss her so much more then I imagined. I will never forget her. She was always there for me,
especially when I was sick or sad. There are no words that I can write to do her justice.
Lady
Dear Lady,
You were Nana's best friend and companion. We will never be able to replace you but will have you in our heart and love you forever. Love and kisses, Your Family
Hemingway
We saw Hemingway (Alex) on the FOHA web site. I was attracted to him and we both went to see him. We fell in love with him immediately. He was estimated to be 5 years old. His history from FOHA. He was one of 52 dogs that an elderly lady was caring for and she went into a nursing home and then died. No one knew that she had these dogs outside on her property. Hemingway was going out getting food and bringing it back to the others. He was the last dog to be captured by FOHA. He was an alpha dog and didn't want to have anything to do with humans. Joe Pillera formerly from FOHA would sit in his run for hours and finally Hemingway came to him. It wasn't easy at first with Hemingway at our house, but Art saw something in him and pointed it out to me. He may have been aggressive, but he was so very loving to us and our family. Deep inside of him he was so loving. We learned over the years to take him out first and let company come in first and then he was great with them. Hemingway gave us and taught us so much in the 10.5 years he was with us. We miss him dearly, but are grateful we gave him a loving home and how he loved us and thanked us. Thank you Dr. Alt for caring for him over the years.
Snowie—Our Very Special Friend
Neal and I were blessed to have Snowie in our lives for 15 1/2 years. We got him when he was 9 weeks old a few days after The Blizzard of '96 (January 1996) that left more than two feet of snow on the ground. We drove to a breeder in Mt. Airy, Maryland, and walked up an unplowed driveway to meet Snowie, his mother, a cocker spaniel, and his smaller brother. Snowie was the friendlier of the two cock-a-poos. He kept coming back to see us, while his brother didn't seem interested. Snowie was also bigger than his little brother and the breeder explained that Snowie would be larger than most cock-a-poos.
We left the breeder's home saying we needed to decide what to do, but as soon as we got home, we called the breeder to say we would return the next day to take Snowie home. When we returned, we announced to the breeder that we were naming Snowie after the epic snowstorm, even though he was black with white markings on his chest, chin, and toes. Neal carried Snowie to our car sheltered in his coat to protect Snowie's eyes from the bright sunshine reflecting off the snow and the cold weather. Snowie sat in the backseat of the car with me, perfectly content and fell asleep in my lap.
Snowie brought us joy from the very moment he came into our lives. He had a very loving, calm, and gentle disposition. He enjoyed being with people and loved to play. Snowie would bring a toy from his toy box into the living room so he and Neal could play on the floor together. Snowie attended puppy kindergarten and obedience training and received his Canine Good Citizen certificate when he was about a year old.
The first time we left Snowie at home during our travels, he was still a puppy. The young lady caring for him did not give him the attention he needed. When we returned, we found he had chewed a bush in the backyard down to a nub. We were so happy to see him we nearly cried. Luckily, on subsequent long-distance trips we hired a very caring young woman from Neal's office who stayed with Snowie at our home overnight. Eventually, she married and moved away and so we began to take Snowie with us on all our trips. He was an excellent traveler and would just lay in the backseat and sleep. We would make a rest stop every 2 hours so Snowie, Neal and I could stretch and get a bathroom break. As a result, Snowie traveled as far north as Mont Tremblant, Canada, as far south as Deerfield Beach, Florida, as far east as Ocracoke, North Carolina, and as far west as Gilbertsville, Kentucky.
Snowie got to experience more than some people have the chance to do. We took him with us to New York City in October 2000. As a dog raised in suburbia, Snowie was totally unaccustomed to the noise and concrete canyons. As a result, he did not go to the bathroom for the first 24 hours we were in NYC because he could not find a blade of grass to pee or poop on. Finally, we found Madison Square Park a few blocks from our hotel and Snowie got to relieve himself. Very early one morning, Neal was walking Snowie past a truck whose driver was in the process of unloading his cargo. The driver threw open the door to the truck with a bang and slammed a dolly to the ground. Snowie jumped in fear from the loud noise and commotion. We took Snowie with us in a taxi to Rockefeller Plaza so we could appear on television in the crowd outside the Today Show studios. With Snowie in Neal's arms and me by Neal's side, we were caught on camera.
Snowie had another opportunity to achieve his 15-minutes of fame when we traveled to Suffolk, Virginia, to appear as extras in the New Dominion Pictures television show "The FBI Files." The half-hour re-creation of a closed FBI case was called "The Predator." It was about Frank Atwood, a serial killer, who kidnapped a little girl riding her bicycle in Tucson, Arizona. The child's remains were eventually found in the desert by a dog whose owner was searching for him after he'd run away. In the re-creation, Snowie found the skull of the missing child. We put doggie treats in the fake skull to get Snowie to sniff at it and the camera caught him in action.
Finally, Chesapeake Veterinary Cardiology Associates asked Neal and Snowie to appear on a video to soon be uploaded to the CVCA website demonstrating the excellent care provided to their pet patients. Snowie was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse and degenerative valvular disease in 2006. Every 6 months and later, as his heart disease progressed, every 3 months, Snowie was examined and underwent an echocardiogram. He was a longstanding and cooperative CVCA patient. As Snowie aged, he had to take more and more medicine to keep his heart functioning. By the time he developed congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation, he was taking 20 pills a day. Yet, Snowie was always cooperative. Not many dogs would have allowed their Mommy and Daddy to give them so many pills coated in creamy, low-fat peanut butter.
Snowie also had more surgeries than most dogs. Once, he was attacked and bitten by a strange dog and had to have stitches. Another time he was so excited to go for a car ride that he started to jump into the car just as I was swinging the car door open. The pointed tip of the door nicked Snowie and he had what appeared to be a huge gash in his side. We rushed him to Burke Veterinary Clinic and Dr. Alt stitched him up. Luckily the gash was not as deep as it appeared. Snowie also had cataract surgery on his right eye. Snowie often had cysts that ruptured, resulting in pus and blood seeping out that required deep cleaning and antibiotics.
In addition, Snowie had a completely torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right leg in 2006, which required surgery and physical therapy afterward, and a pulled ACL in his left leg, which occurred later and healed on its own. The damage to the ACLs was probably caused by our daily evening visit to the community tennis court. There Snowie and I would play catch with a tennis ball. I would throw the ball and Snowie would run and occasionally fly through the air to get the ball, causing him to land hard on his back legs. After the ACL surgery, we could no longer play catch on the tennis court. This disappointed Snowie. He would often lead me to the tennis court, only to stand there looking longingly for me to throw the ball, which I no longer carried with me on our walks.
None of these surgeries or illnesses got Snowie down. He remained the sweetest, most docile, most loving dog. Due to his advanced degenerative valvular disease and severe mitral valve regurgitation, Snowie's quality of life declined. Although we had hoped that Snowie would reach 16 so he could get his driver's license, it was not meant to be. He went to the Rainbow Bridge on May 31, 2011.
Snowie taught us many valuable lessons about life. He lived in the moment and appreciated every sight, smell, sound, touch, and meal he experienced. He didn’t need television, the Internet, or Facebook to keep him entertained. He enjoyed music and sang (barked and howled) to the song “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.” He napped, played, cuddled, walked, ran, traveled, ate, drank, and gave love unconditionally. He was patient and would wait, though excitedly, for his walk, car ride, and meals. He was always willing to go wherever we went and do whatever we did. He never complained, even as his back legs became arthritic and he walked more slowly, like a little old man. Snowie made a significant impact on our lives and the lives of the many other people who met him. His longevity was due not only to his beautiful nature, but the wonderful care and excellent treatment he received at the Burke Veterinary Clinic and CVCA.
We love Snowie and miss him very much. His aura surrounds us with his love forever.
RIP: Snowie, November 11, 1995 / May 31, 2011
Jedi
Jedi was obviously named by my boys when they were young during the Star Wars craze. He was loved by us and was also welcomed into the homes of our neighbors. The vole population was kept in check at our house and those around us. Our neighbors loved watching him watching the holes at their front steps. Aside from rodent control he was our bedtime buddy, waiting for his cat greenies and then our snuggle and purr time in bed. We miss him terribly.
Cartman
Cartman was with us for 11 years after one year with our son. He was the epitome of the South Park character, “Cartman”. We do not know how our son knew this was his name when he was only a tiny fur ball, but he did.
