My sweet Nikki

[AlleyCat]

Hi Nikki,
Your mommy and daddy miss you so. It's getting to be close to one year since you left us suddenly. We know you had the liver hepatitis and had your meds, but you took a quick turn for the worse. It still hurts knowing the vet couldn't save you that last day but we understand you had to go to the Rainbow Bridge. Nikki, you were the sweetest girl (in our opinion!) anyone could wish for and we miss that big black pile of fur that kept us company wherever we were. Your album page is all done now, and the poem I wrote for you is in there too. It so sums up who you were. It will be a year on the 25th, but mommy and daddy will be busy packing and moving and we wanted to make sure we didn't forget to get this memorial written here. Rest assured, we will be thinking of you that day, as we do every day. We love you, baby!



Nikki, you greeted Papa every morning with that wagging tail and bone in your mouth.
You knew the toothpaste was coming out of the drawer and you just wanted yours.
The ears flew up and the tail started wagging as soon as you heard the magic words "bye bye"
The eyes that got big when you heard the camper and the rustle of sleeping bags.
Nikki, you always made Mama feel safe every night with that deep, loud bark of yours.
We'll remember your little quirks and your big heart.
05/03/95 - 06/25/04

[LorraineO]

awww,,, you loved her deeply,,, she was a sweetheart... I am so sorry you had to lose her,,

[Buddy Blaze Lover]

What a beautiful tribute...Nikki looked and sounded like such a sweet dog! I know how those anniversaries are...such a sad time, yet a happy time to remember all the wonderful memories of your beloved pet...

[pipersmom]

Oh, what a sweet, beautiful doggie! RIP Nikki.

[gemini9961]

How beautiful. RIP Nikki. Your Mommy and Daddy miss you but they will always love you.

[sandragonfly]

oh my dear, I'm truly sorry about your nikki.. in that flower picture, she sure is a sweet flower! so sorry to see she has to leave... into a better place! well, at least.

rip dear nikki, your mommy and daddy loved you so much.

do you do creative memories? or just an album with a piece of poem? always a great idea.

[AlleyCat]

Gina,
I "sort of" do Creative Memories. There are several deaf consultants in our area so I got caught up in the hype several years ago. I have only done 3 albums - 2 honeymoon ones and the third is my furkid album.

The furkid album is about 5 inches thick so far - I have ALL my first 4 furkids' photos in that album so it's huge. I started right from when they came to live with us up until their passing, and for those who have passed, I made a memorial page (actually 3 or 4 pages, that is) with their last photos and momentos. It's a great album and I will treasure it forever. It is sad to think I only have 1 furkid left of our "original 4" and when she passes (hopefully not for a long while yet, she's only 12 !!) then I will have completed this album - it will feel like the end of a chapter in my life.

I'm not doing any more CM, just this last album. My newer furkids are in a regular photo album, not CM - CM is great, but just too time-consuming.

[sandragonfly]

hey there!

well that does not sounds like "sort of" lol.. five inches must be very heavy by now.

lucky you, I couldn't find any, even signing consultants around here..yeah eats a lot of time, hope you'll finish it perfectly and yup, will be worth it forever.

love CM too but haven't tried anything with it yet because there's not much of animals frames/backgrounds/stickers. do you do with yours or you just pick other theme?

again, I'm sorry about nikki, ..will you take a few pictures of nikki's pages..I'll bet it's beautiful and would love to see them! only if you want.

[AlleyCat]

Gina, I do use some stickers and some cute pre-printed papers, but overall this album is a bit more basic - I have focused more on the photos than the design!

Here are some photos: (Sorry they are a bit dark/blurry, it's kinda hard to take a photo of a photo)

Nikki's first page (to introduce her to the album):


More pictures:




Nikki's first memorial page with a short description of what happened with her liver hepatitis:


More of her last photos (took pixs of her shaved belly from her ultrasound and biopsy - her hepatitis took over so quickly that her fur didn't even have time to grow back in. Liver hepatitis is a very fast acting disease - we discovered that something was wrong at her annual checkup/shots when we ran blood work (not expecting to find anything as she was acting fine, just supposed to be routine) in March to being diagnosed with the hepatitis in May and she passed in June.)


More photos:


The U of Minnesota Vet Hospital made a plaster pawprint for us:


And a photo I created and had printed at Walmart: (both Nikki and Rascal are on the same photo - they died just 3 months apart):


Andrea

[ramanth]

What a lovely tribute. *hugs*

[sandragonfly]

andrea,

thank you very much for sharing during your hard time. the pages are really, really nice. I love the one with you(or someone else) hugging behind nikki! (and so sorry about rascal, I don't remember him/her) s/he's really pretty.

lol..we can be attracted with photos! yea, even though I like their die-cuts, stickers, you're right, as much as it's simple, (without too many additions than photos you use) it looks good and better. well, I sure hope doing this album helps you feel a little better?

hey pssst.. there's a thread I made (of CM) and hope you can join us!

[AlleyCat]

Hi Gina,
Thank you. And yes, that is me holding Rascal when she was a baby. (I look so young! I was 22 at the time, 12 years ago.)

Since you don't know Rascal (and most here on PT don't as I joined PT after she died), you can check out the memorial I posted for Rascal when it was one year; here is the thread.

http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...threadid=70787

She was also Cat of the Day last October and that link is in that thread above.

I will check out your CM thread!

[captain]

That is beautiful.

{{{hugs}}} to you

[PJ's Mom]

Nikki's album is beautiful! I'm sorry you lost your baby girl, but I'm very happy you created such a special place to hold all her memories. You can tell she was a special girl.

(((Hugs)))

[K9soul]

Your tribute and your beautiful album for Nikki have me speechless. Reading your tribute to her had me in tears, seeing her shining happy face, I could truly visualize her wagging and greeting Dad with a bone in her mouth and the widening eyes as she heard the camper and sleeping bags. Your album is just gorgeous, what a wonderful memorial to your darling girl Nikki. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Nikki, I know you're looking down from above with that happy grin and wagging tail. Play hard up there at the bridge sweetheart, until you meet again with your loved ones.