The Four Amigos and Charlie Girl
The Four Amigos and Charlie Girl
September 2022 I drew The Four Amigos and Charlie Girl.
Title: The Four Amigos
Dimensions: A2 in a 70cm x 50cm frame with mount
Medium: Graphite on 300gsm Fabriano Artistico hot pressed paper
Title: Charlie Girl
Dimensions: A3 in an A2 frame with mount
Medium: Graphite on 300gsm Fabriano Artistico hot pressed paper
Charlie Girl was my beautiful rescue dog. Here's her story.
Charlie Girl was a rescue dog. She was 4 when she came to us in June 2021. She had previously been a breeding dog.
Amanda got Charlie Girl for me to get me out of the house as over the lockdown my mental health has suffered. Charlie Girl loved me unconditionally for 27 short months. She was loved by all the Lazenby family and by anyone who met her. She really had the sweetest kindest temperament. She never barked or growled at anyone or anything. She was happy.
She never left my side. She followed me everywhere. When she wasn't following me her eyes were constantly transfixed on me. She was without doubt my best friend and my heart was hers. In the time that we had her she was never left on her own even for one moment. There was always someone here for Charlie just as she was always here for us.
In July 2023 Charlie Girl collapsed and it was found that she had a pericardial effusion.
The vet drained her perpericardial sac and referred her to North Downs Animal Hospital. The cardiology specialist there scanned her and said the good news is that there was no mass detected and asked us to bring her back for another scan in January just to rule out cancer as there may have been an unseen mass at that stage.
Last Monday we took her back to the vet as she had been looking weak and was very slow on her feet. She had been gagging excessively too.
They scanned her again. They confirmed that there was no signs of a pericardial effusion at that stage but there was some fluid in her lungs.
They put her on lifelong meds Pimpbendan 5mg twice daily to strengthen her heart function and Frusemide 20mg twice per day to keep the fluid off her lungs. The vet did mention that the meds might take up to two weeks for her to start feeling better.
Last week she went off her food although I was able to handfeed her a little. I was only taking her for short walks as she was struggling. The gagging became worse and she seemed very weak. It was extremely hot weather so rather than walk her too far I was just taking her in the garden for wees etc.
Yesterday evening 10th September Charlie Girl collapsed in the garden. Her legs just went from under her. We rang the vet and took her straight away. They immediately put her on oxygen and scanned her.
I had mentally prepared myself for bad news whilst on the car journey there as her breathing had become erratic and I did already think she'd gone at one stage but her breathing picked up again.
The vet advised that she had a pericardial effusion again and that her lungs had a lot of fluid in them. She advised that this wasn't going to go away and even if they medicated to keep Charlie Girl alive she wouldn't last very long.
The vet recommend euthanasia. Naturally this was a massive shock to Amanda and Daniel who was there with us. My heart hit the floor however I had prepared myself. The vet kindly allowed us time to decide and time to spend with Charlie Girl and we were with her when she fell asleep at 22.25.
We are all deeply honoured to have been a very small part of Charlies short journey.
We will all miss Charlie Girl very much.
Charlie Girl 13th March 2017 - 10th September 2023
