The holidays are over and for our home, it was a relief, not because we don’t enjoy the season, but because of the pervasive sadness in our home over the illness and eventual loss of our VERY special boy, King, our American Bully on December 26, 2024. With incredible sorrow, we laid our boy to rest. He was suffering and that was the hardest part. He had been struggling with various issues that I won’t go into now but I will attempt to share with you why I believe this to be so…even though he was naturally reared from the age of 6 months. He came to live with us at 13 months of age, February 24, 2013. He would’ve been 13 years old on January 14, 2025.
Before I continue, here is his Memorial Page that I created and will add to over time as I did with some of our previous amazing K9s that have graced this home and our lives. This will give you some more details that I won’t re-share in this post, plus photos, condolences, as well as some audios and videos. My next goal is to create an ebook with all of the stories I’ve written about King over the years with photos to gift to my husband Donnie who was his favorite person in the entire world. Donnie and I have been devastated as King brought so much more to our lives than we even knew until he was gone. We are so grateful to all of those who shared their condolences with us as King was absolutely a treasured member of our family – there is NO such thing as “just a dog.“
Here are the original two stories of how King and then 4 months later, how Schatzie (his favorite dog in the world) came to live with us: King and I and Lost But Now Found
King was sick yes. I knew things were changing in him but managed his illness and issues naturally to the best of my ability. We have our reasons for not going the full veterinary route. We’ve done that in the past or attempted to and ended up pulling our dogs out of that system every single time. The system IS broken. However, during this last crisis with King, the veterinarians we interacted with, helped us with such compassion and caring that it eased some of our anguish.
The first crisis with King happened in 2015 shortly after Schatzie’s illness. I want you to see that connection. I’m linking to the blog post on Schatzie so you can read that story for yourself if you so desire as I bring this all together. Schatzie Girl is Teaching Me
Every time one of us was sick, shortly thereafter King would end up with something ailing him. I started out sick in 2015 with a bad flu then healed. Then Schatzie got very ill (reference the above article) and then healed. THEN King got sick with an injured CCL (knee injury) that I managed solely initially with nutrition, herbs, and essential oils (he re-injured the knee in 2018 – we had a custom knee brace made for him then as is stated in the CCL article). He did get a urinary tract infection on top of that which the holistic vet thought was due to the pain of the CCL injury as well as stress (most likely over the pain he went through but also due to Schatzie’s illness). This vet treated King with Chinese herbs and acupuncture, however he was afraid of King for some reason but at least the treatment helped. King was always very joyful and loving, but the stigma of “bully breed” still followed him sadly. King loved people and dogs very much. He was a lover not a hater. He may have loved too much, if there is such a thing (which I personally don’t think there is enough of frankly). My hope by sharing any of this is to help us all see what role we play in our own health in ensuring how to keep our pets healthy and well.
Continuing on…
Donnie became very ill in the fall of 2023 which progressed into 2024. He was miraculously healed by God (not by doctors or natural health either) after a third hospital stay from one diagnosis that was originally deemed for hospice care only. Interestedly enough, after Donnie was healed in April and began readily improving from that day forward which astounded the doctors, King began his final descent. He actually began to decline during the deepest part of Donnie’s illness, being quiet and depressed whenever Donnie was in the hospital.
Let’s keep in mind some things before I continue…
After all the loss we went through from 2018 – 2022, it’s no wonder as the atmosphere in our home was a far cry from the joyful, fun atmosphere previously. For me it began in earnest as the long-running podcast and eventual school in animal naturopathy that my colleague and friend, Dr. Jeannie Thomason, and I founded and ran together ended, then losing Schatzie, then aunts, uncles, friends, my mom in 2021, then Jeannie in 2022, it was all just too much. The stress and sadness became pervasive in our home and lives.
In the middle of all of that, along came Ezra, who is a LOT of dog that both Donnie and I were unemotionally prepared for. It’s been hard for Ezra too because he would’ve been great in so many things such as agility, nose work, field & trial, etc., but we just weren’t in the right frame of mind for any of that or his energy needs. We ought to have said no to having him but we didn’t and the rest is as they say, history. Due to the stress of that PLUS all that has transpired in the world from 2020 onward, we believe King took it all in. Why? Well let me share with you how my colleague and good friend, Dr. Sarah Reagan said to me as part of a private conversation we had:
“Yes, it’s the human that really needs the rescuing. I’ve said that myself before. Rudi Verspoor said something that may seem curious, but I do think I understand it, that when we as practitioners treat a patient (human), it is not US healing THEM…it is OUR salvation that we are participating in. If you really think about it, is a pretty sobering, and humbling, thought. And I think the same could be said of when we, as practitioners, take on an animal patient (client) it is really us who is being healed….it’s what our animals do. It’s their job now, but it is also our job to learn how to redeem them. And I do mean spiritually. What a little warrior King was. Please give Donnie my heartfelt condolences. I wish I could hug you both. Please know you are both in my prayers…When we lose our beloved animals it is natural to question whether we did everything we could. I did that with every single one of mine. And it’s not a bad thing and can be productive. We can learn, especially about ourselves if we take the time to do so. But what is not productive is to fault yourself, to blame yourself. You, and Donnie, did everything you could do in the moment. Know that. It honestly is exactly what I see as ‘the meaning of animals’. I love you.”~Dr. Sarah Reagan
My side note – WE must BE well so THEY will BE well.
DIAGNOSIS, VETERINARIANS & SERVICES
We didn’t receive a definitive diagnosis for King. For the record we NEVER have for Donnie either except by the ONE doctor who has since capitulated on that. Sadly, however, it did land in Donnie’s conscience which then translated to King I believe. I know it had to have landed in me to some degree as well. Based upon what I just shared, and the tumors that manifested in short order before his passing, as well as what the very kind and gentle veterinarian who performed this final service stated to us, King was no doubt in end stage (I absolutely refuse to give that evil spirit a voice here so I won’t state it). King took on Donnie’s thoughts about his own illness and diagnosis – he was so entwined/entangled with him. Our animals do NOT have a filter for our thoughts and words which ARE energy and simply transfer to them. I’ve had so many clients whose pets had the same illnesses as them and this is why in part and also environment (epigenetic) which also plays a pivotal role. Reference my articles: What is Sickness?, What About the Diagnosis?, and What is Health?
King had to have done this in the beginning of Donnie’s illness I believe. Then after Donnie’s miracle healing, King just masked his own symptoms so we could focus on Donnie – I am speculating on this obviously but knowing our boy and how this all translates to our animals, both Donnie and I are certain of this. Plus, King was just that kind of dog. He was the peacemaker in our home – it was just his very nature to be so. He just seemed so happy to have his “dad” home, and was once again his enthusiastic self even if he was slower and slept more. We started noticing the slowly increasing changes in him during the middle of summer 2024 even though Donnie was clearly stronger and stronger as time went on. King was ALWAYS happy and content around Donnie, he just loved him so much from Day One!
I was supporting King with all the natural health ways as we’d done since he came to live with us. I was also believing for his full healing as well, just as I stood believing with Donnie for his. However, not long before Christmas 2024, King began to decline rapidly. We knew Christmas Day that it was “his time“. Up until that point, both Donnie and I were in hope for a miracle healing and definitely in denial of anything less. Although, King’s struggle made it hard for us to see beyond his temporal state which I think was part of the problem because we cried in his presence too often or hovered over him constantly fretting over him. I’ve told others to not do those things when they are in this stage and sometimes those animals DO heal, but I didn’t heed my own advice. Now, sadly, here we sit without our happy-go-lucky little boy whom we miss so terribly much.
Yes, it hurts beyond measure, especially since I’ve felt I could’ve done something more or even prevented it from fully manifesting. I know that we can’t allow ourselves to wallow in guilt, shame and condemnation because that is NOT of God but of the enemy – reference what Sarah stated clearly in her comments to me earlier in this post. Jesus took our shame, guilt and condemnation so I can’t allow myself to stay there even for a moment even though quite candidly I have done exactly that too often. The relief I get is that I KNOW King is with Jesus!
The day AFTER Christmas (we couldn’t reach any of them on Christmas Day) we had conversations with several veterinarians who do house calls. One in particular stands out to me and it is she who recommended the other two to us, Dr. Laurelle Danton. She stayed on the phone with me for about twenty minutes, getting to know me and I her. She said that animal naturopathy is a needed service for pet owners and wants to refer others to me as we go forward. I was grateful for her kindness and loving attitude. She said she is no longer doing clinical work, that she only does the Pet Loss at Home service for hospice and euthanasia nowadays – this is a nationwide service by the way. It takes a special kind of person to do this work. The first veterinarian I met who was doing this was back in 2009, Dr. Ella Bittel of Spirits in Transition. She was a guest on our podcast multiple times. Plus Donnie, I and Shadrach, met her at the airport here and took her to Santa Fe to spend time with Linda Tellington-Jones for her birthday.
Sadly, we never got to meet the veterinarians above who do the mobile service, as all three were either out-of-town or booked up. That seems to happen on weekends and holidays in particular – I know as a former veterinary technician myself that’s how it always seemed to go. Spring and Winter especially. The gauntlet seasons as my friend, veterinarian Dr. John Symes used to say (he actually did a podcast episode with us on this very topic in 2006. Dr. Symes aka Dogtor J was our regular monthly guest for an entire year).
King continued through Christmas night as well and on the day after Christmas, as we did what we could to comfort him and be there for him (we even slept with him) one of us staying with him at all times, with Ezra comforting him in his canine way also. What was interesting was on December 23rd, King was playing with Ezra wanting to wrestle him, being his normal, happy self. He even had one of his “conversations” with Ezra where they would lie facing each other with their legs interspersed (see the photo – from a couple of years ago). If only I knew what they were talking about.
Obviously we knew King was failing and honestly if we’d had hospice set up in advance, he’d have passed on his own most likely at home as the normally prescribed pain medication would’ve allowed him to just go to his final rest. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty though. The thing is, we really believed he would be healed – we don’t know why YET that he wasn’t, but we also believe that it is always God’s will. Since he wasn’t improving, in truth rapidly declining, we decided to take him to the veterinary clinic near our home in the early afternoon, where we also said our farewell to both Schatzie and Meshach. This time was very different though. The veterinarian, Dr. Sean Jennette, and his wonderful team who helped us there (from the tech, the assistants, the front desk ALL were very kind and compassionate) made this process as easy as they could. They also expedited King’s cremation for us and when Donnie picked up the urn, it was all presented so beautifully (the best we’ve ever received for any of our dogs in fact). The whole facility was so much better organized and ran than what we’d experienced there with our two previous dogs. We are so glad for King’s sake, not that he noticed. The day he passed, he mostly just sat or laid forward staring at Donnie, as if he were memorizing his face and making certain his “dad” would be okay. He and Donnie spent the time before we took him to the clinic, just staring at each other while I was trying to comfort him and just be by his side. I have to say that what it all reminded me of, and some of you may think this is going too far, but honestly you can take it or leave it, I’m stating it: he reminded me every step of the way of what my Savior & King Jesus did for us. That will always be with me and Donnie as he feels the exact same way…that topic will be discussed at some point going forward but not in this post.
I am VERY grateful we had such kind and loving veterinarians to interact with over that last very difficult day. I know God’s hand was in this and we both are very grateful to Him for that. He has let us each know that King is happy. That’s all he said to each of us individually, “King is happy.” I know it’s because King did his job so well here. I think that’s what hurts the most – the void he left in our home. He had a larger than life presence and filled our home with his loving, sweet self who could also be feisty when he wanted to be because after all he had Terrier blood!
So rather than saying goodbye to you our amazing boy, Daddy and I just say, until we meet again our beautiful Bubby Boy, we love you always and forever sweetheart. We miss you SO very much and rather than bemoan all the “woulda, coulda, shouldas” instead, we want to thank you for all you taught and gave us. We will honor you with this by helping others with all you taught us and continue to do as we open ourselves up to learn all God was saying to us through you.
Two videos for you: Prayer for Pets and God Healed His Dog of Bone Cancer PLUS the article I wrote last summer little knowing that Donnie and I would be in this position again at this time so soon after his own healing: Does God Heal Pets? I will be studying this out much more in depth for myself. A book recommended by my friend and fellow dog lover, Leslie Selfridge, titled Healing Prayers and Meditations for Pet Loss by Steven H. Woodward may also be of great comfort to you.
IN CLOSING
One last thing, there is a woman on Facebook who creates stuffed dogs from their photos. She doesn’t advertise, she just shares the photos of the dogs she has recreated that look so realistic it’s hard from a first glance at the photos to think they aren’t real! I plan to have one created of King for Donnie. If you want to know who she is, I will be happy to point you to her profile on FB.
“When we experience trauma or loss, it can be devastating and challenging to recover. God’s will is that we do recover, no matter how great the loss.” ~Cal Pierce, Healing Rooms Ministry
Kim Bloomer, V.N.D., N.D. is an animal naturopath as well as being certified in small animal nutrition, with years of experience in animal wellness. Dr. Kim is a published author, writer, and blogger. Subscribe to her DOGgone Newsletter for updates or to her blog via email. Copyright ©2005-2025 Aspenbloom Pet Care, Dr. Kim Bloomer, All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the Author/Publisher. This article is intended to be educational. However, it is not intended to be a substitute for diagnosis or treatment from a qualified animal health professional. Dr. Kim Bloomer and Aspenbloom Pet Care, do not assume any legal responsibility for misuse of the products discussed in this article. The only essential oils referenced on this website are Young Living.
