12/19/2025
Happy Holidays everyone! 🎄❤️💚
As we end the year, I wanted to start something new! See the attached blue graphic for details! 🐾
I’ll go first by telling you about my dear friend Blue💙. He lived an extraordinary life, so very well loved by his people, Jen and Nathan. But the day Blue and I met, he was being rushed into the treatment room of the veterinary hospital I was working at. My very first job as a vet, only about a year or so into practice. However, I didn’t need much experience to quickly triage Blue and analyze that he was in serious trouble.
“Hit by a train!” I heard my veterinary technician say as she wheeled him into the treatment room on a stretcher. Surely, I’d heard that wrong. “He lives in Danville with his owners and got loose. He ran over the tracks and the train hit him as it plowed by!”
That was 6 years ago. Blue’s road to recovery after his train accident was a long one, so we got to know each other pretty well. This tough boy overcame each and every injury with such resilience and grace. Though most of his tail had to be amputated (the train partially detached it), he was still as handsome and sweet as ever.
The first two photos were taken during one of Blue’s post-accident check-ups. My favorite is the one where he jumps up onto my arms for a kiss, reassuring me how much better he felt.
The next two photos are of Blue and I reuniting during an in-home wellness visit in August of 2021. I had left clinical practice about a year before that to start Family Paws Mobile Vet Care. And I was so excited to receive an appointment request for an in-home visit from Blue’s mom, Jen!
Two months ago in October, Blue and I reunited one final time in his home. The years had weakened his body (he had lived to be over 16!), but he was lying cozy in his bed in the living room, made comfortable and absolutely doted upon by his mom and dad, Jen and Nathan. Blue wasn’t able to get up and walk over to greet me, so I quickly put my doctor bag down and got down on my knees on the floor beside him. Our eyes met, “Hello old friend”, Blue’s expression seemed to say, “I’ve been waiting for you, and I’m ready.”
I helped my dear friend, Blue, find his everlasting peace that day as I sent him running over the Rainbow Bridge. Myself, Jen, Nathan and Blue’s favorite vet tech, Sarah, surrounded him with love as he gently took his last breath and his beautiful soul left this world. 🌈
If you are grieving or have grieved your own Blue and would like to tell their story, please never hesitate to reach out to me. I am truly so very grateful to hear of the beautiful, happy memories you shared with your beloved companions. And, of course, I love seeing photos captured of their lives lived by your side. 🐾
🤍All my love,
Dr. Kristen Wagner
