Buster's Brigade

Hi my name is Buster, I am a 12 year old Cocker Spaniel that suffers with Canine Lupus. I am trying to find out more about this disease and how I can help others like me fight it and possibly find a cure! <3

Here is a blurry picture of my nose...

Beloved Pets - Koto Jan 1990 to 4-19-2008

Koto Jan. 1990 to 4-19-2008

I acquired Koto and her sibling Poto after Jeff and I got married. A friend of a friend sent me to where she had gotten her cat.

I believe in 2004, Koto found my serger and fouru lovely spool of threads. Koto would manage to find my sewing machine, and just eat the thread all the time. No matter how many times I would hide and/or cover it.

I noticed that evening she had not eaten, and that she was having a tough time drinking water. The following morning I still didn't see her eat, drink or go to the litter box. As I was going into the kitchen I noticed her moving very slow, and saw that her tummy was a bit swollen. As I left for work, I asked Jeff to call the vet. I called Jeff to see if he had taken Koto to the vet, he said he had not since Koto went under the bed. I have heard that animals go to dark places to pass on. I asked Jeff to remove Koto from under the bed and take her to the vet that something was wrong.

I get a call from Jeff while at the vet. I asked if everything was okay, Jeff proceeds to tell me that Koto under went an emergency operation, and continues to tell me, that if we would have waited another hour Koto would have been dead.
The vet x-rayed Koto's body, she had eaten so much thread that some of the thread wrapped around her tongue and lower intestine. If Jeff did not take her in when he did the pressure of her stomach would have caused the thread to cut her intestine in half. Once koto had her surgery and was all healed up she was able to jump on everything and anything.

She use to bite my yarn while knitting, crocheting, I would just have wet thread, but she never eat it just bit it in half..


In Feburary upon our return from vacation we noticed she had a bump. At first we thought it was a fatty tissue. By the end of Feburary it grew fast and it started oozing. We made an appointment and found out she had breast cancer. We had it removed. After her surgery Koto was twice a loveable and she jumped onto everything, I mean everything, the bed, the couch...WE were so amazed. However, we found out she also had chronic renal failure, which she would go in and get fluids every 3 weeks since her breast cancer surgery. We thought all was well, but I tend to forget she was 18 years old.



4-18-2008 We took Koto in to check her left front paw since she was limping. We found out that Koto had arthritis in her arm, along with a heart murmur,and being anemic. The doctor gave her pain shot for her leg.


4-19-2008 This afternoon returning from our business class from SIUE college about 45minutes away, we came home to give her her dose of medicine. We noticed she had labor breathing. Jeff called the vet, with all the symptoms she has and being old. I am sure with the medicines along with chronic renal failure and everything else. We knew she would go but not this soon. She was breathing okay last night, up and seemed okay.

I dropped Jeff off at work around 3:30 today, had to run by my mom's shop to pick up my belated Birthday gift. I then ran to the bead store to get a few things and came home around 5:15. I opened the door as usual noticed all the animals in one room looking at me. Once I shut the door, she was laying stretched out on her side, she had passed away. I cried so hard, I would have rather been there with her. I was gone probably an hour an a half.

I will miss her sleeping under the covers with me. Koto was deaf and just because she could not hear herself she would have a piercing meowing.. While watching t.v. she would lay on my chest and her breathing and purring would put me to sleep.
Our Beloved Furry Babies..

Poto and Buster are still living....Poto has been crying and looking for Pharoah all week, now she is crying by her sister.

Beloved Pet - Pharoah 1991 to 4-7-2008

Pharoah 1991- 4-7-2008

Pharoah was adopted from the Belleville Humane Society the same day we got Cleo. They were crate mates or I should say crates side by side. We thought Pharoah was a boy until we took her to the vet. As a kitten they could not tell at the Humane Society. As she got older we were told he was not a she! I kept the name. She use to have large ears like a 'bat' and had a long sleek body. As Pharoah got older she grew into her ears.

We lived in Fairview Heights, in my parents old house before there divorce. Pharoah use to jump onto the to toilet then jump straight up on to our shower doors. Pharoah would lay on the towel that was hanging there to dry. When Pharoah wanted down she would 'meow' and 'meow' like crazy for us to take her down, after we would run around the house to see where the heck she was! We would get her down and pet her, 10 minutes later she would jump back onto the toilet then onto the thin shower doors and would just lay there and dangle her arms. Each pet had their own personality and they are missed.

In 2006 Pharoah had a stroke. We were sitting in front of the couch and she had just jumped onto the couch, before you could catch her, it was as if someone threw her off the couch. Pharoah laid there, we took her to the vet, and they thought she would never walk again. Our vet sent to us to a vet in St. Louis, but they wanted us to do test, etc.. We wanted to wait it out. Pharoah had to rely on me and my husband evey 2-4 hours to hold her up to go potty. We slept in the living room of our apartment at the time she was on the floor in the middle so we could hear her and help her if she needed. She knew after awhile that we were holding her so she could go potty. Pharoah found her own way and when she was ready, (she couldn't walk at the time) she would spin herself in a circle and would meow for us to help her go potty. Hey, it worked! After about 2 weeks of this, she started walking on her own. Pharoah walked with a limp and was slightly stiff legged. April of 2008 she formed a turmor that grew fast and it was very aggressive, that the cancer was already in her lungs.

We went on vacation in January, when we got back we had a lot of fur babies sick. We took Koto to the vet in Feburary to get her breast cancer removed. The same time we found out that Buster our dog's liver function test was at 2189 instead of 100, then in March Pharoah's bump was small at the time.

Dog's show more pain then a cat, cats can hide pain well.

We couldn't se Pharoah in pain anymore. The last week she was with us she couldn't go potty or walk. We had piddle pads down for her where she laid. Pharoah was weak, so we had to take her to the vet and let her go. Pharoah is with her buddy Cleo. Pharoah will be greatly missed.

Beloved Pets Cleo 1991 to 3-26-2004

Cleo 1991 - 3-26-2004

We adopted Cleo from the Belleville Humane Society in 1991. I went there to acquire a black cat and a white cat to add to the sibling sister I had at home. I found the black cat that was a crate mate to Cleo. Prior to us getting, Cleo she was being quarantined for an illness she had.

When we got her Cleo was just so loving, I didn't even think of a white cat anymore. I had to convince my husband to get two more cats. We were in the waiting room while they got Cleo. She loved on me and she must have known that my husband was the one she had to convince. Cleo jumped from my arms into my husband's arms and started licking his face and nibbling his ears, that is all it took. He said, 'okay, were taking her'!

Cleo would steal food from my husband's plate or try too. We use to sit on the floor on our glass low coffee table. Cleo, of course, would be underneath the table belly up. When my husband would look up to watch t.v. you would see Cleo's paw hook towards the plate and try to pat the food off the plate onto the floor. If Cleo was behind you on the couch and you were sitting on the floor while putting a fork full of food into your mouth Cleo would try to swipe the food off your fork. Cleo had a lot of character for a cat. If you told her 'NO' she would talk back by meowing at you. Just too funny. Like a kid.

She was spoiled as the others and lived a good life. In 1994, Cleo had an eye injury that we thought she would go blind, but she was not to our surprise and the doctors surprise. Another cat scratched her left eye and the claw hooked in and up through her eye. But with love, care and daily medicines required she could see fine, her pupli was not round but shaped like a football. In August of 2004 she had acquired some odd bumps on her stomache we took her to the vet and she had cancer bumps removed. They came back quick in March six months later but was around her back spine. We couldn't let her suffer we had to let her go. Our hearts were broken but her love healed our hearts and the fond memories. She will be missed.