09/06/2026
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💔 THE UPDATE I NEVER WANTED TO WRITE — OUR SWEET LEO 💔
I have started and stopped writing this so many times because I simply don’t have the words.
We have made the heartbreaking decision to let our sweet Leo go. 💔🐾
We have tried everything we possibly could. Leo has received IV fluids, glucose, antibiotics, pain medication and medications to support his blood pressure. We transferred him to the emergency hospital when he continued to decline, and they have been fighting right alongside us.
But Leo’s little body is not responding. He is continuing to decline, and I cannot allow him to suffer because I’m not ready to say goodbye. Sometimes loving them means fighting with everything you have—and sometimes loving them means recognizing when the fight has become too much for them.
Today, I have to love Leo enough to let him go peacefully. 😭❤️🩹
I also want to share something about rescue that people don’t always see.
Rescue doesn’t stop because your own life is falling apart.
While I was desperately trying to save Leo, my biological dad, David, was struck and killed by a car last night. My family and I are trying to process something that doesn’t even feel real yet.
My entire world was spinning out of control, but there was still this little pug depending on me.
So I kept going.
I came home in the middle of the night, checked on Leo, gave him his medication, realized something wasn’t right and took him to the emergency hospital. I sat there while they tried to stabilize him. I authorized the IVs, antibiotics and medications. I watched his numbers. I prayed. I begged him to fight.
Because that’s what rescue is.
These animals don’t know that you’re grieving. They don’t know that you’re exhausted, scared or completely overwhelmed. They only know that they need you.
And Leo needed me.
I wanted so desperately for this story to end differently. I wanted to tell everyone who donated, shared and prayed that we saved him.
But sometimes, despite the money spent, the sleepless nights, the medicine, the veterinarians, the prayers and every ounce of love we have to give, saving them isn’t part of the plan.
Maybe Leo wasn’t meant to stay with us as long as we wanted. But he was absolutely meant to know that he was loved, wanted and worth fighting for.
And we fought for him. We fought so hard.
To every single person who donated toward Leo’s care, shared his posts, prayed for him or sent us love—thank you. Please know your donations were not wasted because we couldn’t save him. You gave us the ability to TRY. You gave Leo a chance. You helped make sure that when there was still hope, finances weren’t the reason we stopped fighting.
Now I have one final promise to keep.
Leo will not leave this world alone. He will leave in my arms, hearing how much he is loved. ❤️🩹🐾
This is rescue.
Sometimes it’s adoptions and happy endings. Sometimes it’s watching an animal blossom because someone finally gave them a chance.
And sometimes it’s sitting on the floor of an emergency hospital with a shattered heart, saying goodbye to a little soul you would have done anything to save—while trying to somehow hold together the broken pieces of your own life too.
Today, rescue hurts.
Run free, sweet Leo. 🌈🐾
You were loved.
You mattered.
And you were worth every single second of the fight.
Until we meet again, little man. ❤️
🐾 Kathryn’s Precious Paw Rescue
www.kpprescue.com
