09/01/2026
Our precious little teddy bear left us yesterday and our hearts are broken.
Norman Reedus came to us from White County Animal Control in June of this year, a breath of fresh air for the cabins after a spate of losses that rocked the cabin residents to their core.
A 6 month-old trapped in a 15 year-old body, Norman's sheer effervescence and refusal to accept old age gracefully was a joy to behold.
It didn't take him but three seconds to claim the hearts of every female in the place, but he always seemed patently unaware of the effect he had on people. He would just walk around, or even gallop around on occasion, looking monumentally cute.
As if that was the only job he had to do.
And honestly, that was enough for all of us.
He was no trouble at all to have around, he was a supreme cuddler, he was soft as a rabbit, he was kind to the other dogs and really we couldn't have asked for more.
Oh, and did I mention that he was SERIOUS eye candy?
Of course, as a hospice sanctuary we never assume that dogs are going to be with us for years, although many are. We have a whole facility full of dogs who we think faked their medical records to get in and then seem to live for years and years. Not that we're complaining of course...
But with Norman, his puppyness led us to believe that he'd be one of the long termers, and we were overjoyed at the prospect.
Sadly, it was not to be.
In the last week or two, Norman had been having neurological episodes where he had been circling round and round, very often winding up in places he couldn't extricate himself from.
We checked for nystagmus and all the other signs of vestibular disease but it wasn't that, and so we would give him fluids to ensure he stayed properly hydrated, as a lack of enough fluids can bring on these symptoms and this very much helped.
However, yesterday, his episodes were different, they were distressing him greatly and they combined with a large mass that appeared on his chest in the morning and grew as the morning wore on.
We took him to the vet who told us that the mass was very concerning, that he had developed a heart murmur and that his neurological symptoms did not look like they could be solved with either motion sickness drugs, or even steroids.
Our mission is always quality of life.
Nothing else matters.
And so we made the tough choice to let him go, and quite frankly, it killed us.
We've said it before and we will no doubt say it again, but we felt robbed by his loss.
He was a beautiful soul and we feel very lucky to have known him, albeit it only briefly.
Thanks for stopping by, Norman. You left a huge dent.
😥
