Yoda

12-14 years old, rainbow bridge

February 26, 2023: Rest in Peace, Yoda

Every dog that comes into rescue takes a permanent place in our hearts, no matter how long – or how short – a time we have them with us. Meet Yoda.

Sweet Yoda came to SECR as a shelter pull, where he wound up as a stray a couple of weeks ago. Our best guess is that this guy was a corgi / terrier mix, but it doesn’t really matter. When we saw Yoda all we saw was a kind senior boy who really needed our help, and we were going to give it to him. Likely somewhere between 12-14 years old, Yoda was in pretty rough shape. He was skinny, had terrible teeth, was in desperate need of a bath, and had difficulty seeing and hearing. He was a dog who had likely been on his own and fending for himself for quite a while as he didn’t quite know how to get comfortable indoors or how to respond to human affection. But, we were going to do our best to teach him.

Our foster director took Yoda in, cleaned him up, gave him fresh food and water and a comfy spot to lay his weary body, and showered him with all the love that he probably never received before but so desperately needed. And, in his own way, appreciated. We hoped that if we got Yoda some much needed vet care he’d settle in and have at least a couple of years left to thrive in a loving home. Unfortunately, though, medical tests told us otherwise.

When we took Yoda in to our vet, we discovered that he was in stage 4 kidney failure. His kidney values were off the charts – indicating that there was likely nothing that could be done to reverse his situation. For five days we did everything we could for Yoda to keep comfortable and hope for a miracle. We gave him medication, small quantities of soft food we thought he’d be most likely to get and keep down, and subcutaneous fluid treatments that are critical for animals with kidney disease to keep them hydrated and toxins at bay. Sadly Yoda’s disease was already too advanced and he deteriorated quickly – so much so that we knew the best thing we could do for him was the hardest. He was sick and suffering, and we don’t let our dogs suffer. We needed to give him peace.

Yoda found his peace in the arms of our foster director last week, crossing the bridge while being reminded that he was loved and that his life mattered. We wish we had found Yoda sooner, but we are thankful we had him for the days we did and could give him love and comfort when he needed it most. We rescued him, but in a way, he rescued us too.

Thank you, Yoda. We’ll love you always.