To all you wonderful people (and your furbabies) who welcomed me into this forum, encouraged me on and cheered with me when I brought my little ray of sunshine home, it is with tears pouring down my face that I have to type this email. I couldn't bring myself to add it to my original thread as that thread was so happy and fun and full of promise. Anyway, my little baby girl was a wonderful Ray-a-Sunshine for the 24 hours that I had her. She was the sweetest thing I've ever known and I cuddled her and loved on her every minute I could. She completely won me over and I'll never forget her. To some it may seem silly as I just barely brought her home, but I have a feeling most of you don't think it's silly at all that I'm crying buckets over her short little life.
To backtrack a bit...when I went back to pick her up at 5:30, the vet had sad news. She was very sick and there was nothing they could do for her except end her suffering. I don't remember the name of the disease, but it is usually prevented with the distemper vaccine (although it's not distemper) and it's always fatal if contracted. She received the distemper vaccine from the shelter when they got her, but she was most likely already infected. Her white blood cell count was extremely low and they said her organs were all shutting down. My only consolation is that I was able to take her home and give her all the love I had for her last 24 hours. But even more than that, her precious face and sweet disposition will forever remain in my heart even though I knew her such a short time. She will always remind me of a little Ray of Sunshine. So I think that's her name.
