Dear Jude friends,

As I sit and watch Jude try to get herself onto the dog bed, fail, fall over backward (don’t worry, it’s not high), and try again until she reaches her goal, I realize the one big lesson Jude teaches us all:  NEVER give up, and always keep fighting. If Jude had given her up she would not have made it out of kitten-hood. There are so many times she could have quit, decided the fight is not worth it, life is too hard, but she didn’t. Jude is a fighter, and she will never stop fighting for this wonderful thing called life.

Jude has it harder than most, but it is her fighting spirit that makes it easier for her to deal with the tough blows life has thrown at her. Of course, she couldn’t survive without all the medications she has to take daily, and I am so grateful such things exist these days, but it is her “never give up” attitude that makes her take each day by storm. We can all learn a lot from Jude, so the next time you think the fight isn’t worth it, think of Jude and be like Jude. It may take a few tries to get onto that dog bed, but focus on the end goal, and keep fighting for the comfort of the dog bed.

Jude has had a fairly good month, although she did have one grand mal seizure. The day before the seizure we had hosted Friendsgiving at my house. We do this every year, and we invite a bunch of our volunteers and people who don’t have anyone, so they are not alone for the holidays. So, needless to say, our house was packed! We had around 30 people, and a lot of them wanted to see Jude. Jude was in the bedroom, as usual, but she received a lot of visitors that night.

Although she seemed ok at the time, I’m guessing it was too much stimulation for her, because the next morning she had a huge seizure. I quickly gave her the rescue meds, but even then it was a good minute before the seizure stopped. I held her tight and waited until she was over the seizure. A few minutes later she started growling at me, and I knew my girl was ok again.  We have not had any other seizure activity this month, and even the focal seizures have stopped. Stimulation seems to be the main thing that pushes Jude over the edge, and always seems to result in a seizure.

Castiel (one of my paraplegics) has decided Jude will be his BFF once again. They used to be such good friends (before the spay incident—see a previous update), and now Castiel is working tirelessly to make her love him again. He follows her everywhere, and lays as close to her as possible. For the most part, Jude has been accepting of this and seems to enjoy him being close to her, but he does push it too far sometimes and Jude gets cranky. At this point, Castiel just backs off for a while, lets her calm down, and then resumes the “you will love me” strategy.

Jude is all ready for the holidays, and she is hoping she will get some good gifts from Santa Paws. She already got one gift from one of her sponsor friends! I put it in her stocking so she can have it on Christmas day. I’m sure by then the stocking will be quite full.

Well, that’s all the Jude news for now. Jude and I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season.

Jude would like to remind you once again to never give up, no matter what life throws at you, and always, always keep fighting. Be like Jude!

Your correspondent,
Karina