Year 2010 Tributes

For pet names beginning with "N".

Nana was dumped at a kill shelter as a 9 1/2 year old dog. She was rescued and fostered for 6 months. I found Nana on Petfinder.com. I believe she was 10 by the time she became part of my life on August 5, 2005. She was part Schipperke (like my second dog), part terrier (like my first dog) and named after my grandmother. It was meant to be.

While I only had 4.5 years with Nana, they were filled with love. She was the sweetest, most loving, kindest little dog. She could bark but didn't. She would "talk" to me when she wanted something (usually food). She loved little kids and would let anyone at a bus stop pet her as we walked by. She had her dog friends to greet as we'd do our daily walk. She loved to get hugs from my neighbor, Paul -- treats too.

Nana loved to sleep with her nose tucked under my bed pillow when I was away from home. She also would wait on the stairs so she could see all entrances to the house. Always best to be prepared to greet her person!!

Nana had a dog door and small fenced yard. Occasionally she would bring me a present of a dead bird or small animal. I don't think she caught them herself, but she sure was proud of finding them! Wish I could have enjoyed receiving the occasional gift as much as she enjoyed giving them.

I knew our time together would be too brief, and it certainly was. I also know that we gave each other total love and support. What a gift I received from my little Nana!

I let Nana go on January 13, 2010, when I could see how sick she was becoming due to old age and, I believe, cancer.

Nana, You are missed more than you can imagine. I will always love you and you will always be in my heart. Because of you, I will bring another adult or perhaps senior dog into my home. The time together is shorter, but the life together is even more special.

I love you Nana. Thank you for all you gave me.

My dearest Tasha,
I know you are pain free finally and now my pain begins. What a special girl you are. I still see you in your red wagon being the crowd pleaser you were. Christmas eve at the nursing home with your Santa hat in your wagon. What a wonderful girl!! You had such a challenging life at times, yet you gave to me the most unconditional love I could ever hope to experience. I love you so much and my heart is empty without you.
You are now with your big sister Nikki. Please play well with her and Bailey and Brutus. You are all together again; take care of one another until the day I join you. I love you baby girl....kisses

Our dear Nava Jayne,

Your first name means beautiful and your middle name is for my beloved Aunt Jayne. After two miscarriages and learning that I would never have children, I went to the humane society to find someone to love. You and I were inseparable from the start.

You were afraid of cars, presumably from being homeless on the busy streets of Atlanta. In the early days, you needed lots of comforting hugs and told me so with your expressive eyes and ears. I love you, my little girl, and miss you so much. I wish you were here to engulf my face in your mouth, to moan in joy as I rub your ears just the way you liked, to see you at the back door with a toy in your mouth. My heart aches for you.

I will see you again someday. In the meantime, you are right here in my heart.

Love,
Mama

My dear Nicky, my little guy, finally had to leave this life the day after Thandsgiving 2009. The cancer finally won and he was unable to stand or see and was obviously in agony. I took him and held him while his life left him. The kind vet let me hold him and rock him for at least 20 minutes after. I treasured him and just couldn't let go but I am not sorry for doing so. He saw me through so many, many dark days and would lick my tears away and make me smile. My heart hurts for him. Yesterday I put his ashes in St Francis urn and also in memorial gold pendant to wear around my neck always. When I got him from foster home years ago (he had been so abused) I promised God and Nicky that no one would ever hurt him again. I firmly believe that I will see him again in heaven, if only I am good enough to make it there. I know he is now although I still feel his presence at times. A priest once said when asked if they would see their dog in heaven,"Did he make you happy? If so, then you will as God wants us to be completely happy in heaven". I hold on to that. The grief is overwhelming me to the point that I want to go see him today. I love you forever, my precious, precious Nicky. I had you for 17 years and that was not nearly long enough.

To my Darling Nicky:

I love you Nick. Miss you more than anyone will ever know. You are the light of my life. My heart aches, my arms ache for you. Mommy has a had time going on without you. We loved each other so much and loved to be together. I especially miss you at night when we went to bed together. I looked forward to that time everyday. When I came home, one of the first thingsI did was to look for you. Your love got me through my darkest days. Mommy is going to bring you home so you will always be close to me and me to you. I will put you little box next to the bed where we slept together in each others arms for so long but not long enough. I expected to have you with me for more years, my darling boy. Thirteen years old is too young to cross the Rainbow Bridge. I'm sorry you suffered so much your last few weeks. I tried so hard to help you. You are my brave little boy. You were my life and reason for breathing and my best friend.

I saved some of your fur and the blanket put into you carrier, that still has some of your fur on it, for the last ride you went on. That was to the Doctor, when we shockingly found out you would not be coming home with Mommy. I felt like my heart stopped then, and it still skips a beat when I think about what happened. Your little drool is still on the sheet of the bed where you last slept with Mommy. I kissed it this morning. Knowing you gave me some sunshine everyday. I can't believe I will never be able to kiss your little face and paws again.

Nick, you are the best. I want you back so much.

Love Mommy

Nigna was a stray black cat with white paws. Living mostly across the street outside, nearby a house shared with a dog. Slowly Nigna started to visit us on a regular basis and especially during meal times. She then adopted us and also our outside garage. Nigna became mostly our first outside cat. Then a collar was installed and followed yearly maintenance visits to the vet for good care.

We were sailors back then and we would leave Nigna behind in our garage for 4 months at the time for few years. Nigna was being taken care meanwhile by our neighbor and remained faithfully waiting for our return inside our garage or sometimes in our laundry room. Within an hour of our return from the ocean, Nigna would reappear to greet us and reunite with us. The years passed by and sailing stopped. Living in Florida we were then sometimes faced with hurricane treats and for safety reasons we decided to make Nigna our inside cat. Slowly other cats were added to our nest and especially one black tuxedo cat just fell in Love with Nigna. He was almost infatuated by her and spent hours just staring at Nigna while she was sleeping on our bed. She became also my husband's Mistress. Every time my husband would go for a nap, Nigna would faithfully lay next to him along side his body.

My husband got very sick but Nigna remained his mistress. My husband recovered but slowly Nigna started to get sick. Loss of appetite and followed by loss of weight. We did everything we could to help her with food and meds but sadly she then succumbed to Jaundice. It is with the greatest pain that we had to put a stop to her misery. She will always be missed: but we know the suffering is over. May you be in paradise, Nigna, with the other pets. Thinking of you forever.

My sweet Nika. I hope you know how much you are missed. You have left us with a very big hole in our family. The sadness we feel is just awful.
It was such a hard decision to put you to rest but your illness came on very quickly and it was very aggressive. Cancer is such an ugly illness and robs us so deeply. But I know you are at peace and playing up there on the Rainbow Bridge with your sister, Misha.
When Misha passed on you became the top dog. The only dog. And you were able to have all of us pour all our love to you. You were always so proud and independent. Loyal, friendly, loving but not much of a cuddler. You were always happy just to "be" with all of us and share in our daily life. The coming and going and playing and sleeping ¡­ there was always something going on in the house and you were always a big part of it.
After our big move, we wanted to add a puppy to our family so you would have a pal to spend your days with. When Kolo came along he was such a commotion all his own and he just nudged you to play all day and even came to rest near you at night. You seemed to "tolerate" his puppy ways but as he grew, the two of you became inseparable. He loved you and he misses you terribly now. He feels your absence as he waits by the door for you to come thru first. He looks around your favorite snooze spots and seems bewildered that you are not there. He was right there with you when you took your last breath. He had his paw on your back to make sure you knew you were not alone.
Kolo's loneliness prompted our desire to add a new puppy to our home. You'd love Kaiya; she is so feisty and playful and she sure keeps Kolo busy. They too are becoming fast friends and they share a lot of playtime together and even snuggle close when they rest.
The decision to let you go was so painful. We hardly knew you were sick. You were still so loving and wanted to be near all of us. We found your autoimmune issues early and were just working on maintaining your comfort. But when the doctor learned that you were not eating and so lethargic in those last couple weeks he wanted to check further.
I just didn't want you to suffer and when we discovered how bad your cancer had become in such a short time, Dr. Landry made sure to help us understand what your quality of life would be. We wanted better for you. We wanted peace for you and no pain or suffering. Had we let you linger you would have suffered so much and we would have been selfish to keep you here with us like that. We wanted to you know how much we loved you, would miss you but wanted you to be peaceful.
On your last day, Daddy put you out on the lawn to rest in the sunshine. At one point I looked out and you looked so peaceful and regal as you lay holding your head up high. You looked at me and your eyes were sending me a message. I was sure of it; you were telling me that it was ok. That you knew your time had come and you loved me. You loved all of us. I did recognize that very moment and I thank you for giving that to me.
Dr. Landry was kind enough to come to our house and send you on your way the the Bridge while you lay on the back patio in one of your favorite spots. The sun was shining and there was a light breeze. It was a very beautiful moment. Daddy, Kolo and I were with you till the end. The girls said their goodbyes to you in the morning and we were all grateful to spend one last weekend with you.
My heart just aches when I think about you. You were a wonderful member of our family for almost 10 years. You left us way too soon. You were always there for all of us no matter what was going on. And you lived your life well. You certainly knew how to have fun and loved to run. You've taken us on many a chase. And you loved to lay in the sun in the backyard.
Even with Kaiya in the house, I still sometimes expect to see you everywhere I turn. She helps us heal but will never take your place in our hearts. You would have enjoyed her too. Your absence fills me with such deep loss but I do know in my heart that you are peaceful and loving us from a distance. I do believe that you and Misha are together and that we will all see each other again.
You'll always be with me. Always.
Rest easy my love dog¡­. go peacefully now and look down on us knowing that we loved you more than we ever thought possible. I miss you terribly... but I know it was your time to go. Thank you for touching my life and for allowing me to love you so deeply. Goodbye for now, Nika. I love you and always will.

To my "Nikki"

You were my best friend for the past 13 years. I miss you more each day. I'm sorry for your pain, but now you're free. I'm glad we were together at the end and that you knew how much I loved you. I will never forget. You were my "minime" and my heart hurts without you. I'll never be able to have another dog. I love you.

NIna---our special baby girl----she was an English Springer ---she brought so much love into our lives----we now have such a big void---hard to move on withour her in our lives. We will always miss her deeply------NIna we loved you so Love Mindy & Gil

To my rising star NOVA
You were and always will be my baby girl. I feel lost without you in my world. You were taken away from me too soon and that will forever be too painful to accept. But I am extremely thankyou for the time we had together though I wish it was longer. You understood me more than anyone could and gave me the best hugs ever! You will forever be in my heart and my memories. You were and always will be much loved more than words could ever express. I really wish you were here with me today.
I hope you are happy and at peace in rainbow bridge.
I miss you so much it hurts. Im not going to say goodbye because I know one day we will meet again so I am just going to say R.I.P.
Loads and loads of love forever and always.
YOUR DEVOTED OWNER
Jenny
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Nugget was a Yellow Lab and was my best friend and constant companion for 7 too short years. One of only two yellow puppies in an otherwise all black litter, I fell in love with her instantly, and she fell in love with me. We were inseparable, and later in life she became my Service Dog to help me over-come anxiety in a strange new city. Life without her has been hard...walking the paths alone we had always walked together. Nugget had many friends and family who miss her deeply. She is a dog that will never be forgotten, and who was taken away by an unexplained illness way too soon.

Nuri, it seems like ages since we lost you. our hearts are broken, and the house is so empty.i found this site,and it has helped to know that others see how we feel.the fire happened so fast,and i had gone to the store,and was only gone 10 minutes,but it was too late. you were taken by smoke inhalation,and i blame myself,even though your poppy was there,he called you, but you did not come. we thought you had ran out,but you had jumped in the shower. a place you never got in.i am so guilty, the firemen would not let me in.i would gladly have given my life for you,my little man.please wait for us, my baby dog.you might have weighed 70 lbs.,but to us you are our little man.until we see you, play and run,and watch for us,and know i am not going to be complete until i see you again, and poppy too.love forever,mommie and poppy.

My dear NYJA,

I love you so much. I bought Nyja from a shelter in Brooklyn, she was 7 weeks old.

She brought me such joy, I cannot express the love. If I was sad, she would lay her head near me. She would always make me laugh. When I got NYJA, it was after I was abused in a relationship. She filled me up, with more love. She was 15 yrs old, when she left me, and it was so sudden. It all took place in one day. When I got her to the doctor, they said she was critical, there was a mass under her stomach that the doctor felt. She was fine, the night before. I love her so much, there will be no greeting at the door. She would always come running.

I don't know what to do, I feel as though, my heart was torn from my chest.

I miss you so much, may the lord keep you in his arms.

Nyx, the pain of losing you is almost unbearable. At 152 pounds, you looked like a force to be reckoned with. But all who knew you were truly amazed by how sweet and loving you were. You came to us out of grief from the loss of Medusa, and Kiki before her. What we never expected was the unconditional love you showed us. I will never be able to put on my tennis shoes again without thinking about you and your love of going for a w-a-l-k.

Goliath misses you dearly. You allowed him to play with you when you were trying to nap, taught him the ropes, watched him when he ran endlessly in the backyard, and shared your blanket with him when he wanted to lay near you. Dad will never forget how you stayed close when he was injured, as to almost try to offer him reassurance that he would be OK. You and Anthony grew up together, sharing his food that he was reluctant to eat, running around the living room playing tag.

The only consolation to our grief is knowing that the pain you hid so well from all of us is finally gone. You run and play pain-free now. You can have as many treats as you want, and will retain your girlish figure. We love you, and miss you dearly! Until tomorrow, our sweet girl! Love Always, Dad, Mom, Anthony & Goliath