On Nov. 21, 2017 we said goodbye to Simba.
Simba was one of the first dogs we rescued from the Fairbanks North Star Borough dog pound via the Second Chance League. We rescued Simba and his brother Rattles together– they came from the same kennel in Nenana.
Simba had mellowed out in his old age. As a youngster, Simba sure loved a good fight. He even scalped Rattles over a piece of ice with fat in it (Rattles ended up getting around 25 stitches on his head).
Mr. Simbad was also known for eating foreign objects and had three obstructive bowel surgeries!
One of my favorite stories about Simba was when I went out of town for a week. Simba was scared of men and wouldn’t let Greg catch him during evening party time (when we let the dogs run around). Greg couldn’t leave Simba loose, so had a brilliant idea…he’d give Simmy acepromazine (a doggie downer) with the hope that Simba would fall asleep and he’d be able to catch him. Turns out this idea didn’t work! Simba would get very drowsy, bus as soon as Greg approached, he’d wake up and run. Simba was loose for the week until I came home.
Simba was a good team dog, but often loped inappropriately. He ran a couple of short fun races, but was never up for the longer 100+ races due to injuring his shoulder– which was probably due to his inappropriate loping.
In Winter/Spring 2017 we noticed a tumor growing on Simba’s left elbow.
We brought him to a couple of vets, both didn’t want to operate. In June 2017, I brought him back to the vet and she told me he had around 1 month to live. Simba’s spleen was enlarged and his tumor was growing. The vet told me when the tumor starts to ulcer “it’s time” because the ulcer quickly gets infected and is difficult to clean.
On around Nov. 15th Simba ate his dinner and Rattle’s dinner (they shared the same pen), but then he started slowing down and didn’t come out of his box. On around Nov. 19th I noticed the ulcer on his tumor.
By the time we brought him in on the Nov. 21st, he was is bad shape and was happy to go to the rainbow bridge.
Simbad– we will always love and miss you!