Animal Tales | All about Camille

This is our sweet Camille. She passed away on Feb. 19, 2015. I bought her in December 2005 at the Myrtle Beach Flea Market from a dog breeder. I went down that morning because the ad said “puppies and a 2-year-old Bischon.” When I got there Camille was sitting on a metal chair and she looked so much like April, the dog we lost in July of that year. I picked up Camille to see if she would take a liking to me and I sat there for about 45 minutes to an hour holding her, watching everyone come in and make over the puppies, and I thought the puppies would be bought and taken care of, I needed to take this poor little scrawny little thing home and love and nurture her. I truly believe that God and April sent me there that morning to rescue her.

I brought her home and immediately took her to Kind Care, who took care of our last dog, April. I had been told that Camille was 2 years old. The doctor said, “No, she is between 5 and 7.” So we have always thought she was 6 when we were blessed to have her come into our lives. She was so shy and so insecure, clearly she had been abused and mistreated. She wouldn’t eat at first, so I called the person who sold her to me and she said, she put water in her food so she would eat. No, her teeth were so rotten, she had to have seven teeth extracted immediately so that she could eat. After that she ate like a little pig; she gained two pounds in a month.

From the time I brought her home she has been my “little shadow.” She had so many health issues over the years and cost us quite a bit of money. But she was so worth it, there is nothing I wouldn’t have done for her and spent more if it would have kept her going. She had started to have seizures, this was the third one and it was too much for her. She died doing what she loved most, eating. She would scarf down her food and we were so careful to make sure she didn’t choke. She started to have a seizure with her last bit of food that day and I wasn’t able to get it out before she collapsed and went limp. We loved her with all of our hearts and feel blessed that God sent her for us to care for, for the very short 9 years that we had her. Thank you, Camille, for coming into our lives and allowing us to love you. We will see you one day when we cross that Rainbow Bridge to greet you and April.

This story was originally published August 24, 2015 at 9:09 PM with the headline "Animal Tales | All about Camille."