Chelsea Hopkins

Chelsea

November 15, 2004 – March 28, 2021

Chelsea was brought home with me (her mom) in January 2005. I was told she was part poodle and part chinese crested but recently found out she’s 100% poodle! Chelsea lived with me in every place I’ve ever lived. 6 moves to be exact. She lived with me and her grandma (my mom) until 2015 when I got my own apartment. Chelsea always adjusted so well. In 2017 we moved in with her daddy.

Chelsea was so smart, kind, funny, sweet, silly, loving, and loyal, amongst many other things! No words can describe how wonderful she is. She put up with me through my school years and dating years. She has been with me through every job I’ve had and has watch me grow into a responsible, hard-working adult.

Every day is so hard without her here. I miss SO many things – but will have those memories in my heart forever. I miss morning kisses and puppy snuggles that made it so hard to get out of bed, hopping around when she came in from outside waiting for a treat, helping us to make lunch and dinner, sitting with daddy for every human meal, going on many trips with us (she had quite an adventurous life), creating a little spot for her to sleep in the car, running across the backyard after going to the bathroom in her favorite spot by the back fence or talking to her black lab friend.

We were so excited when she made it to her golden birthday and even more excited when she made it to sweet 16!! Mommy and Daddy bought her a cake to enjoy. We celebrated both birthdays up on the North Shore. We got family time with no distractions for 3 whole days.

The past year has been a rough one. Last April Chelsea had a hard time breathing so she had to be on oxygen overnight and found out she had heart disease. We’ve known for about 2-3 years she’s had kidney disease. It was always a challenge trying to figure out how to manage each one as they coincide with each other. She had pancreatitis once or twice. She had “strokes” where she lost her balance and would fall to her left. Daddy created nice feeding trays for her so if she fell to her left she could still stand and it made it easier to eat as well instead of bending down so far. Daddy also built her a ramp as her arthritis was getting pretty bad and she took to that so quickly!

Mommy knew her time was coming so we did many things at the end. We took her around to every place she’s ever lived and took her on walks/wagon rides and took her to a park to just relax in the nice weather and peace and quiet. We took her on one last trip to Nelsons where we ate outside with her in her wagon and she got to enjoy a pup cup of vanilla ice cream! Over the summer last year we took her on Puppy Fun Days which usually meant Mommy and Daddy started work early so we could leave around noon to go to a new state park and find a new place to eat. She has been to many state parks – she even had her own passport book!

Throughout this past year she had episodes of diarrhea and vomiting – which no one could really figure out why but meds always seemed to take care of it. Until this last time around. Beginning of March Chelsea started to have episodes of vomit – even if there was nothing that would come up. There were episodes of diarrhea as well and I felt so bad because I just wanted to help her and fix her! She didn’t eat very well this past month and she lost about 3 pounds – it was so sad to see her so skinny and know she wasn’t doing well. We would heat up some chicken, beef, or meatballs for her to eat – which she took some of each up until Friday March 26. Chelsea stopped eating altogether, drinking, and taking meds. This is when we knew it was bad. Saturday came and we did Pup Cup Sunday on Saturday and she didn’t really eat much of her pup cup, but she did take a little bite of a donut – which would happen to be the last thing she ever ate. Saturday night she couldn’t really walk that great and Mommy stayed up with her all night long out in the living room. Around 5am we moved to the bedroom but I couldn’t get much sleep and glad that I didn’t. Daddy came up around 8am and we laid in bed crying talking about possible euthanasia plans for her if it continued. She still could not walk and was not interested in much of anything. She still seemed aware that we were there with her though and I got to hold her on my chest in her favorite chair for a few hours. The last minute she was restless so I asked Daddy to help her go outside. As soon as he picked her up her little head fell backwards – I knew she was gone. Mommy could NOT handle this and screamed and cried and held her. We took her to the back fence one last time and on one more walk/wagon ride around the neighborhood. It is so incredibly empty and quiet without her and I don’t know how to move on. I am just thankful she doesn’t have to be sick or in pain anymore.

Chelsea – God has you safe in Heaven and we cannot wait to see you again someday. We miss you terribly, love you so much, and will keep so many memories in our hearts forever. God Bless you