Hippo was a stray dog who was too sick to be saved from death’s clutches.
Just how hard it is to say goodbye? Well, if this dog and his rescuer are any indication, it’ not easy… but it can be beautiful.
He had tumors all over his face and all other signs to show that he had a rough life in the past. Everyone knew that his life was ending – very soon.
But a 19-year-old girl named Sophiane Nacer, who is also the founder of Cayleb’s Kindred Senior Dog Rescue was determined to give the poor dog both love and affection before he finally went.
She adopted Hippo and vowed to give him only the best for the remaining days of his painful life.
Hippo was rescued and brought to the Adams County Animal Shelter in Colorado.
The vets from the shelter found him to be “obviously in failing health with multiple tumors,” Jim Siedlecki, the shelter’s spokesperson, told TODAY.
Under state law, Hippo was required to be at the shelter’s custody for five days.
Nacer, whose nonprofit specializes in helping ill senior dogs, got Hippo out on Oct. 18 — after waiting for that period to be through.
Just by looking at the helpless condition of the dog, Nacer was not even sure if he would like to be touched because his skin seemed to be too painful to caress. His skin was in pretty bad condition, and she thought that bringing him on any kind of adventure wasn’t such a good idea.
But everything changed when she saw Hippo wag his tail.
Hippo, although he looked very sick, didn’t give up on life without giving it a good fight. He decided to have fun on his last day on Earth.
He had car rides where he felt free, he had some walks at the park, and he met a couple of new friends.
Then they went to Starbucks to have a special ‘puppuccino’, he also drank from the lake.
Given his condition, she would normally not allow him to drink from the lake but she gave the sick pooch the freedom to do almost anything that he wanted to.