our angel...

This morning at around 10:30am we had to say goodbye to our sweet Mara. She was 13 years old.

Sunday morning she started having problems, and on Monday morning she had surgery due to a severely enlarged spleen and fluid in the abdomen. Her spleen was removed, however her platelets were so low and she continued to bleed and her body continued to fill with fluid. Last night, one of our other dogs Bonita donated blood so that Mara could have a transfusion. Mara continued to bleed, and it seemed that the fluid was collecting in her lungs and causing her problems breathing. Sean made it home this morning and we took her into the vets. There was nothing else they could do, nothing else that we would want to put her through. She went peacefully with both us there telling her how much she was loved, and how grateful we were to have spent so many wonderful years with her.

Mara was adopted from Greyhound Rescue Austin in February of 2000. She was the most beautiful greyhound I've ever seen, with the softest coat (second only to Summa, another greyhound friend). Mara had the most joyful, playful personality. When we adopted Boney in 2007 she had some issues adjusting. At one point, she snapped and growled at Mara. Mara began to quiver like a leaf, and I put Boney in the laundry room and comforted Mara until she calmed down. Twenty minutes later, when I went to let Boney out, Mara ran directly to her, tail wagging, wanting to play. Rena, on the other hand, still hasn't seemed to have forgiven Boney for a similar altercation!

Mara has flown across the Atlantic Ocean three times, all of them at the feet of her parents in business class, thanks to her therapy dog status. She has visited 15 countries, 14 of them in Europe. Throughout all of our adventures, she has truly enriched our lives. People everywhere want to say hi, pet the girls, ask questions... There are probably about 500 photos of Mara and her sisters floating around in Japan from all the captivated tourists! In the last few months, as the weather has cooled down, she has had a lot of fun. We live near the woods, where she had been able to roam around off-leash, and we had been taking her to meet other greyhound and galgo friends by the river. We also live near a castle, where they have a large closed off lawn. It wasn't two weeks ago that we had her up there running around and she took a sprint and was play-bowing like the young dog she was when she first came into my life.

We miss her terribly, and are absolutely heartbroken, but so thankful she was ours. She was so loved, and will be so missed...