Loving the End of Life
After being a nurse for thirty years, Karen Thomas followed her childhood dream of creating a sanctuary for dogs with terminal illness. Her goal was to create “the best last days of their lives.” And, since she was an energy healer, and animal communicator, she was able to ask the dog, “What do you want to do today?” Their answers always surprised her and will inspire you. One dog asked for a ride in a golf cart, through the neighborhood, meeting friends and getting a pupsickle. Giving this dog the best day of his life was transformative for her and for the dog.
Karen created her non-profit, Payton’s Promise, named after the first dog she took into her sanctuary. Since then, she has healed many dogs by helping them to way outlive their prognosis. For other dogs, whose time had come, she helped them to have the most peaceful transition possible, bringing dignity and sacredness to the process of dying. This is a serious subject, but the stories will bring you joy and fill your heart with the hope of a transformation in how we manage and relate to our beloved canine’s last days, weeks, and longer.
Listen to Episode #49 Now:
BIO:
More than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry has led Karen to where she is today. As a young girl, Karen volunteered in animal shelters in eastern Pennsylvania. Her instincts as a natural healer led her to a medical career upon completing a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing degree at West Chester University.
Karen worked full time as a Registered Nurse for over 25 years and continued her education in holistic medicine over the last 20 years.
While operating the sanctuary full time, she continues to work with private clients remotely, using animal communication and energy healing. She offers solutions to health issues, behavior issues, stress, anxiety, and end of life transitions. Most of these are treated with various energy healing modalities. Karen is passionate about helping to heal animals in shelters, sanctuaries, and rescue organizations.
Today Karen continues to be involved with the local rescue organization, Florida Keys SPCA in Marathon, Florida.
While she has volunteered with FKSPCA since 2003, she took on a more personal role in 2014 when she began implementing the use of calming music, and the diffusing of therapeutic-grade essential oils. This has helped to promote relaxation and healing in the indoor kennel areas by calming the dogs’ nervous systems.
This has been her successful model for the sanctuary.
In addition to establishing Payton’s Promise Sanctuary, Karen is also a Best Selling Author, Healing Touch for Animals Practitioner, and Intuitive Healer. She graduated from Communication with all Life University, where she fine-tuned her skills in animal communication and energy medicine. Karen lives in South Florida with the loves of her life; her personal dogs and the sanctuary dogs.
Transcript:
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Announcer: This is Pet Life Radio.
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Announcer: Let's talk pets.
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Announcer: Welcome to The Human-Animal Connection Show, where we believe we can communicate with all animals.
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Announcer: Join us as we explore the 33 principles and healing methods of The Human-Animal Connection.
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Announcer: As animal lovers, we know that you share our commitment to making the world a kinder place for all creatures.
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Announcer: Together, let's embrace the transformative healing power of The Human-Animal Connection.
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Genie Joseph: Hi, everyone.
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Genie Joseph: Welcome to The Human-Animal Connection podcast.
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Genie Joseph: We're really glad you're with us again.
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Genie Joseph: We have a really inspiring, heartwarming show today.
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Genie Joseph: I'm going to be speaking with Karen Thomas, and she is the founder of Payton's Promise.
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Genie Joseph: And she does the work that I don't think too many people could do.
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Genie Joseph: She's really looking at making the best of days, the best of life for that time when animals are getting ready to transition.
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Genie Joseph: So we're going to look at it from the point of view of the uplifting possibilities, the spiritual component, the emotional component, how that can be some of the most enriching time.
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Genie Joseph: So I'm really excited to say welcome to Karen.
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Karen Thomas: Thank you so much for having me.
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Karen Thomas: It's an honor.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah.
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Genie Joseph: So how did you get started?
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Genie Joseph: I know you were a nurse.
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Genie Joseph: How did you get involved in this work?
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Karen Thomas: Yeah.
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Karen Thomas: This goes way back.
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Karen Thomas: I knew that I wanted to work with dogs at the age of seven.
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Karen Thomas: I just, I knew I had, there wasn't literally there was an ad in the one in a local newspaper, you know, for an animal rescue, I guess it was a local rescue.
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Karen Thomas: And I saw the picture and I asked my mom, I said, please take me here.
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Karen Thomas: With my, yeah, I was seven years old.
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Karen Thomas: And that was my first experience with shelter animals.
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Karen Thomas: And it was at that point, you know, I walked in and it just, there were a bunch of puppies there.
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Karen Thomas: I mean, this is in the early 70s.
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Karen Thomas: So there were just a bunch of puppies.
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Karen Thomas: I picked it up and they picked one of them up and we just connect it right away.
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Karen Thomas: And it's like, I knew at that very moment that that's what I want it to do.
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Karen Thomas: And I think that's where my intuition started with connecting with animals.
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Karen Thomas: You know, I just thought we could all talk to animals.
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Karen Thomas: It took me many years to learn otherwise.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah.
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Karen Thomas: So I developed that connection.
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Karen Thomas: I was just obsessed with dogs growing up, and I just tried to learn everything I could about them.
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Karen Thomas: My mom said, as soon as you're old enough, you can have your house full of dogs, but not now.
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Karen Thomas: So then, of course, life kind of took its after school.
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Karen Thomas: I was, you know, I was really strong in the sciences.
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Karen Thomas: And I was a natural caregiver to everybody.
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Karen Thomas: I kind of was that person that always took care of everybody, humans and animals.
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Karen Thomas: So that just sort of naturally led me on the course of nursing, nursing school.
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Karen Thomas: And so I did that.
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Karen Thomas: And I had, you know, a 30-year career of working in hospitals and doctor's offices and human nursing.
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Karen Thomas: But at the end of the day, I always, you know, kind of came home and that was my my downtime was connecting with my animals.
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Karen Thomas: And probably about what I want to say is about 20 years ago now, I got involved with energy work and holistic modalities.
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Karen Thomas: And I was, you know, traditionally Western trained with nursing.
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Karen Thomas: But then I started getting involved with all of these other healing modalities.
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Karen Thomas: And I thought, wow, this is this is really, you know, this is amazing.
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Karen Thomas: And I always practiced on my animals and they were always so willing to receive, right?
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Karen Thomas: Like just unlike humans, they just had no barriers.
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Karen Thomas: They didn't question.
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Karen Thomas: And as that holistic approach strengthened over the years, I knew that I wanted to back out of the traditional nursing field, right?
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Karen Thomas: It was like I needed to go on to something else.
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Karen Thomas: So after I sort of hospiced, I mean, it was 15 years apart, but I was the hospice nurse for my dad.
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Karen Thomas: He passed, he transitioned.
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Karen Thomas: And then two years ago, my mom transitioned.
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Karen Thomas: After that happened, everything kind of opened up and I was able to move forward with the sanctuary that I have now.
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Karen Thomas: So basically, yeah, I take my background in nursing and I pull dogs that have special medical needs.
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Karen Thomas: Pretty much the ones that would not make it out of the shelter alive.
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Karen Thomas: My criteria are they need to be, well, they don't need to be, but they're usually senior.
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Karen Thomas: The bigger dogs, medical needs, and they likely have a time limit because there's a, I have a lot of large city shelters that I pull from.
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Karen Thomas: I'm down in South Florida.
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Karen Thomas: So that's kind of how it got started.
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Karen Thomas: And I, and yeah, so I, I, you know, worked with animals and did animal communication.
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Karen Thomas: I went to school, you know, studied animal communication, did healing touch for animals.
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Karen Thomas: I went through that whole course of carol commotor and healing touch with humans.
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Karen Thomas: Like, it's just amazing, right?
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Karen Thomas: I continue.
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Karen Thomas: So, so I kind of put that all together and I officially opened the doors for the first dog in the summer of 2022.
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Karen Thomas: So two years ago.
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Genie Joseph: Wow.
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Karen Thomas: Yeah.
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Karen Thomas: Okay.
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Genie Joseph: Now, are you working out of your house?
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Genie Joseph: Do you have land?
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Genie Joseph: How do you do this?
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Karen Thomas: So, so it was, so I started the process of, of getting, establishing a nonprofit organization right when we went into COVID.
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Karen Thomas: And that actually is a good little story to tell how, what made me finally do the, do this.
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Karen Thomas: It was on my agenda since the age of seven, like I said.
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Karen Thomas: And in 2020, there was a dog that came into our local shelter.
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Karen Thomas: Now, I've been volunteering with our local shelter for 22 years since I got down here.
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Karen Thomas: And she came in, in 2020, a beautiful German shepherd that was incredibly broken, physically, mentally, spiritually.
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Karen Thomas: Her name was Payton Rose.
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Karen Thomas: Oh, right.
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Karen Thomas: And she was, she just had every, there were so many things wrong with her.
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Karen Thomas: So I kind of made her my project, went in every single day.
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Karen Thomas: I gave her baths, did energy work, essential oils, like she had multi-organ system problems, skin problems, emotional problems.
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Karen Thomas: She was so neglected.
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Karen Thomas: And within the first month or so of working on her, she started to look better and just really come out of her shell and started to, I was like, okay, we're making progress.
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Karen Thomas: And then all of a sudden COVID shut everything down and volunteers couldn't go in.
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Genie Joseph: Right.
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Karen Thomas: So there was about a month or two lag, probably closer to two months that I wasn't allowed in to work with her.
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Karen Thomas: And when I finally did come back in to see her, she had regressed back to where she was by no fault of anybody.
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Karen Thomas: It was just, I made this commitment to do this intensive work on her and the staff couldn't maintain that.
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Karen Thomas: So we were kind of right back where we started, if not worse.
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Karen Thomas: And she was very vocal.
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Karen Thomas: She was a German shepherd that talked a lot.
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Karen Thomas: And when I came back, she was kind of like, where have you been?
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Karen Thomas: I have been waiting for you.
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Karen Thomas: And so she would just kind of yell at me in a loving way and say, would you just start that sanctuary already?
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Karen Thomas: I made a promise to her.
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Karen Thomas: I said, Payton, I promise you, when I see you through your journey, I will get the sanctuary started.
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Karen Thomas: And that's why I named Payton's Promise Sanctuary.
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Karen Thomas: So fast forward about another month or so, I was diligently working with her, but her health was declining.
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Genie Joseph: At that point, was she in the shelter or did you take her home at that point?
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Karen Thomas: She was still in the shelter, and I came and we just continued to work with her every single day.
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Karen Thomas: And the director of the shelter and the vet team, they all agreed and it wasn't a quick decision.
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Karen Thomas: I mean, they just agreed that she was significantly declining and it was time for her to be euthanized.
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Karen Thomas: So the director allowed me to adopt her, give her her best last day.
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Karen Thomas: And then take her for private euthanasia.
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Karen Thomas: But that's what we did.
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Karen Thomas: And I adopted her and a core group of my friends who had known her and loved her and worked with her.
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Karen Thomas: We got together.
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Karen Thomas: We let her swim in the pool.
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Karen Thomas: We made her favorite foods.
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Karen Thomas: She had her stuffies, like all of the things that she absolutely loved.
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Karen Thomas: Yes.
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Karen Thomas: And four o'clock in the afternoon, her appointment time was coming up and she knew.
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Karen Thomas: It was like at 3.30.
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Karen Thomas: She was like, okay, I'm ready.
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Karen Thomas: She kind of ran over to my truck and just started jumping up and barking at my truck.
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Karen Thomas: And we took her in and it was, you know, it was just a really beautiful, beautiful and sad transition.
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Karen Thomas: But she was ready.
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Karen Thomas: Yes, it was ready.
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Karen Thomas: And it's like, I've never seen and I've been through a lot of euthanasia.
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Karen Thomas: I was like, as soon as she was sedated, her spirit was out of her body and she was ready to help me in spirit.
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Karen Thomas: She's like, yeah, let's get this going.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah.
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Karen Thomas: Oh, that was 2020.
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Karen Thomas: And then that when I, after she passed, I started the paperwork for the actual sanctuary itself.
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Karen Thomas: COVID really slowed everything down.
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Karen Thomas: So during that period of time from 2020 to 2022, my mother was also very sick.
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Karen Thomas: So I was spending a lot of time taking care of her and kind of working on getting the sanctuary going on the side.
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Karen Thomas: And she knew that this was my dream.
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Karen Thomas: From a little girl, as from a little girl, she totally supported everything I did.
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Karen Thomas: I would bring random shelter dogs here to her house on the weekends, like to swim in her pool.
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Karen Thomas: And she loved to watch them and left this house for me.
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Karen Thomas: She said, I want you to have this house and I want you to turn it into your sanctuary.
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Karen Thomas: And she passed in April of 2022.
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Karen Thomas: And literally, it was like the day before she passed, I got the letter in the mail from the IRS that were official, 501-C3.
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Karen Thomas: And after that, everything just started falling into place.
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Genie Joseph: That's wonderful.
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Karen Thomas: It is on my property.
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Karen Thomas: I renovated the pool house and they have all of their large kennels in there.
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Karen Thomas: So I have the pool house where seven of the dogs stay, two in Foster and I have my two in the house.
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Karen Thomas: So we have three large fenced in yards and a pool and all the fun things.
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Genie Joseph: That's excellent.
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Genie Joseph: Well, I love that you are able to have a communication exchange between you and Payton.
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Genie Joseph: It makes it so much easier, I think, for both the human and the dog when there's that understanding that euthanasia is not some terrible thing we're doing to them, that we are listening to when it's time.
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Genie Joseph: I know not everybody is in that situation where they have that opportunity, but I just think it's so important for people to hear these stories so they can consider, well, what if we could talk and what if I could listen and make sure, takes a lot of the guilt out when you know that the dog knows that it's time, because they are not as attached to their bodies as we are.
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Karen Thomas: That's exactly right.
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Karen Thomas: I find that they don't fear death.
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Karen Thomas: Like humans, we have a very big fear of it.
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Karen Thomas: They, from what I have experienced over the years of communicating and connecting with them, they see it as a very natural part of the cycle of life and they accept it.
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Karen Thomas: That's why they can leave their, they just can more readily, generally leave their bodies quicker and they're just, well, I don't, you know, I'm going to be bad.
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Karen Thomas: Like I'm here in spirit.
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Karen Thomas: Like they just know, you know, they know that they're not going anywhere, but it's really hard for us to accept and comprehend.
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Karen Thomas: Yeah.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah.
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Genie Joseph: So have you had experiences with Payton since she's passed that you can share with us, ways that she's communicated or connected with you?
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Karen Thomas: I feel her here, especially in the very beginning.
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Karen Thomas: I feel her here a lot.
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Karen Thomas: I feel still she comes and goes, but she'll pop up on my phone if I'm having a problem with a dog, or if I'm just contemplating something or meditating, and all of a sudden her picture will pop up in the phone, on my phone, just like a random picture from two or three years ago.
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Karen Thomas: I hear her say, it's okay, you're moving in the right direction.
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Karen Thomas: Have grace with yourself.
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Karen Thomas: I'll just hear messages in my head, yes, she would say.
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Karen Thomas: And she was always pretty bossy, and that's how she is in spirit, and makes me laugh, and it's heartwarming.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah.
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Genie Joseph: And now you know it's her because the personality is still there.
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Karen Thomas: Yeah, that's some stuff her personality is still very strong, and just like, you know what you're doing, you've been doing this for a long time, you got this, keep moving, and yeah.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah, that's great.
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Genie Joseph: And I think it's important for people to hear also that when an animal is in spirit, they're not usually hanging around all the time, they're in and out because they have a life.
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Genie Joseph: You know, and we don't want to pull them.
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Genie Joseph: Of course, we want to connect when it's meaningful moments of connection, but we want to recognize that they've got their new life and they're doing well.
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Genie Joseph: You know, so yeah, that's really great.
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Genie Joseph: That's really great.
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Genie Joseph: So tell me a little bit about some of these best last days.
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Genie Joseph: I know you have some stories about best last days.
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Karen Thomas: Yeah.
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Karen Thomas: So a lot of the, I mean, our goal is when I first started, this was strictly going to be hospice, hospice dogs only.
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Karen Thomas: And, and, and when I went to the shelter to start pulling dogs, they were very much appearing to be at the end of their lives.
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Karen Thomas: And luckily, they fit my, I wouldn't say 80 percent of them at this point.
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Karen Thomas: We brought them back here and did some TLC and some really good vet care and, and good dietary changes and got them back.
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Karen Thomas: And many of them are thriving.
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Karen Thomas: Now, yes, they are still senior.
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Karen Thomas: Yes, they still have medical needs.
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Karen Thomas: But I've had, you know, we're going on two years now.
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Karen Thomas: I still have a few of the original ones that I pulled at the very beginning.
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Karen Thomas: Wow.
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Karen Thomas: And there are our dogs for the rest of their lives.
00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:37.920
Karen Thomas: The ones and the ones.
00:14:37.920 --> 00:14:43.020
Karen Thomas: So the ones that I know are definitely have a, you know, a time limit are very much at the end of the life.
00:14:43.020 --> 00:14:54.460
Karen Thomas: I want to make sure that they have, we make the very best of it, the last period of their life, whatever it may be.
00:14:54.460 --> 00:14:59.600
Karen Thomas: And there's, I'll give you a story of, this was actually a shelter dog by the name of Roberta.
00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:05.180
Karen Thomas: And this about 20, my goodness, this was a while ago, maybe 2016.
00:15:05.180 --> 00:15:07.160
Karen Thomas: It was quite a while ago.
00:15:07.160 --> 00:15:11.540
Karen Thomas: She was surrendered by her human.
00:15:11.540 --> 00:15:13.580
Karen Thomas: She came in, she was probably about 15.
00:15:14.820 --> 00:15:17.140
Karen Thomas: She was, she was a little boxer.
00:15:17.140 --> 00:15:19.080
Karen Thomas: She was completely emaciated.
00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:20.680
Karen Thomas: Like she was all ribs.
00:15:20.680 --> 00:15:23.820
Karen Thomas: She was just used for, for breeding her entire life.
00:15:23.820 --> 00:15:26.060
Karen Thomas: And when they were done with her, they were done with her, right?
00:15:26.060 --> 00:15:26.780
Karen Thomas: Like that was it.
00:15:26.780 --> 00:15:31.920
Karen Thomas: They just brought her to be euthanized or whatever.
00:15:31.920 --> 00:15:36.740
Karen Thomas: She had large mammary tumors and just full of cancer.
00:15:36.740 --> 00:15:40.160
Karen Thomas: And I looked at this little girl and I thought, okay.
00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:43.900
Karen Thomas: And again, I worked really closely with the director of the shelter.
00:15:43.900 --> 00:15:46.460
Karen Thomas: I said, yeah, she's very sick.
00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:47.280
Karen Thomas: She's full of cancer.
00:15:47.280 --> 00:15:52.240
Karen Thomas: I understand it's the end of her life, but can we, can I, can I have her for the day tomorrow?
00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:53.520
Karen Thomas: Can we do a best last day?
00:15:53.520 --> 00:15:54.640
Karen Thomas: She's like, absolutely.
00:15:54.640 --> 00:15:58.460
Karen Thomas: So that, that day before I left, I gave her a bath.
00:15:58.460 --> 00:16:00.280
Karen Thomas: I love giving baths to everybody.
00:16:00.280 --> 00:16:04.120
Karen Thomas: Like that's, there's so much to that, you know, energy work, massage.
00:16:04.120 --> 00:16:04.960
Karen Thomas: I can talk to them.
00:16:05.160 --> 00:16:09.860
Karen Thomas: Communication, just kind of, let's just wash off the old and bring you to present moment.
00:16:09.860 --> 00:16:10.540
Karen Thomas: Yeah.
00:16:10.540 --> 00:16:16.480
Karen Thomas: I was giving her a bath and I said, you know, thank you, thank you for coming here.
00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:17.980
Karen Thomas: You matter.
00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:24.300
Karen Thomas: I am sorry you had such a hard life, but I want to honor your life and let's spend the day tomorrow.
00:16:24.300 --> 00:16:26.380
Karen Thomas: And you know, what would you like to do?
00:16:26.580 --> 00:16:35.720
Karen Thomas: And as I was talking to her, she just kind of, I got the message from her that she's like, you know, I've had puppies and puppies and puppies my whole life.
00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:40.400
Karen Thomas: And I just want to be loved and honored and respected like those puppies were.
00:16:40.660 --> 00:16:44.400
Karen Thomas: I just, she just felt very used, you know, she felt abandoned her whole life.
00:16:44.400 --> 00:16:51.340
Karen Thomas: And I said, I said, I am, I hear that and we are going to honor you as the princess that you are.
00:16:51.340 --> 00:16:53.580
Karen Thomas: And we're going to party for you tomorrow.
00:16:53.580 --> 00:16:56.280
Karen Thomas: And so she really resonated with that.
00:16:56.280 --> 00:17:01.320
Karen Thomas: So after I gave her her bath, I painted her toenails pink and I said, I'll see you in the morning.
00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:05.840
Karen Thomas: Came in the morning, brought her a homemade pancakes for breakfast.
00:17:05.840 --> 00:17:18.720
Karen Thomas: Put on a pink thunder shirt on her to cover, basically to cover her ribs because I knew I was going to take her in public and I didn't want people to look at her with pity or she looked unhealthy.
00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:26.040
Karen Thomas: So her fingernails got the pink thunder shirt on, put little fairy wings on her back on the thunder shirt.
00:17:26.040 --> 00:17:28.660
Karen Thomas: And I took her to the beach.
00:17:28.660 --> 00:17:30.460
Karen Thomas: We went on the beach.
00:17:30.460 --> 00:17:33.900
Karen Thomas: I took her to the local plaza where the health food store is.
00:17:33.900 --> 00:17:36.420
Karen Thomas: She kind of like romped up and she was so happy.
00:17:36.420 --> 00:17:38.280
Karen Thomas: I mean, she was out of breath.
00:17:38.280 --> 00:17:43.740
Karen Thomas: But you could tell her just the joy that she was being honored and everybody was, oh, look at how pretty she is.
00:17:43.740 --> 00:17:44.940
Karen Thomas: Is it her birthday?
00:17:44.940 --> 00:17:48.320
Karen Thomas: And I would just say, yes, it's a very special day today.
00:17:50.560 --> 00:17:57.160
Karen Thomas: We got her something, a little strawberry smoothie at the health food store, and we took a lot of pictures and just celebrated her.
00:17:57.160 --> 00:18:08.800
Karen Thomas: And it was an amazing day to just put her on that platform and let her be loved and respected and honored just as she wanted.
00:18:08.800 --> 00:18:18.920
Karen Thomas: And by that afternoon, it was ready for her to be across the Rainbow Bridge, and I laid down with her and I put her paw on mine.
00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:20.800
Karen Thomas: And she just was so relaxed.
00:18:20.800 --> 00:18:25.240
Karen Thomas: It was like, and she just kept saying, thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:30.560
Karen Thomas: And she passed incredibly peacefully, and she had a smile on her face when she passed.
00:18:30.560 --> 00:18:32.640
Karen Thomas: Oh, so relaxed.
00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:33.740
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:18:33.740 --> 00:18:36.300
Karen Thomas: That's what I want to see.
00:18:36.300 --> 00:18:37.540
Karen Thomas: Yes.
00:18:37.540 --> 00:18:41.880
Karen Thomas: The celebration that I dream for every dog, right?
00:18:41.880 --> 00:18:42.100
Karen Thomas: Yes.
00:18:42.300 --> 00:18:50.700
Karen Thomas: Of course, it's a time of emotional turmoil, and of course, we're going to be horribly sad, and we don't want them to go.
00:18:50.700 --> 00:18:57.480
Karen Thomas: And at the same time, I try to balance that with the honor, and because it is a rite of passage.
00:18:57.480 --> 00:19:03.560
Karen Thomas: I try to give that to them and let them have the respect and the honor that they deserve as they cross.
00:19:03.560 --> 00:19:04.600
Karen Thomas: Yeah.
00:19:04.600 --> 00:19:08.140
Karen Thomas: So it was one of many, many stories.
00:19:08.140 --> 00:19:10.040
Genie Joseph: That's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful story.
00:19:10.180 --> 00:19:20.380
Genie Joseph: I mean, it's, it's, you know, if we take dogs into our home, you know, like a lot of people, I remember I had this idea that euthanasia wasn't natural, you know, like we, they should go on their own.
00:19:20.380 --> 00:19:24.320
Genie Joseph: A preconception I had when, you know, because I just thought, why are we intervening?
00:19:24.320 --> 00:19:34.860
Genie Joseph: But now I understand that, you know, in, in the wild, natural would be the dog goes out to the mountain and the, you know, lays down under the tree and the comes lunch for the coyote, you know, and that's natural.
00:19:34.860 --> 00:19:36.600
Genie Joseph: We can't give them natural.
00:19:36.700 --> 00:19:46.820
Genie Joseph: So when it's time, we really need to understand that we have responsibility to help and make this transition and make it as beautiful as possible.
00:19:46.820 --> 00:19:48.200
Genie Joseph: So it's beautiful work.
00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:48.780
Karen Thomas: Absolutely.
00:19:48.780 --> 00:19:51.400
Karen Thomas: And it's all part of, you're right, it's all part of advocacy.
00:19:51.400 --> 00:19:55.500
Karen Thomas: You know, we keep them, we keep them as comfortable as we can until we cannot anymore.
00:19:55.500 --> 00:19:59.980
Karen Thomas: Like we would all love a natural, everybody to just fall asleep and not wake up.
00:19:59.980 --> 00:20:03.300
Karen Thomas: That would be beautiful for it to happen to everybody in a perfect world.
00:20:03.300 --> 00:20:04.940
Karen Thomas: But sometimes it just doesn't.
00:20:05.460 --> 00:20:06.100
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:20:06.100 --> 00:20:08.600
Karen Thomas: Try to make it as amazing as we can.
00:20:08.600 --> 00:20:09.460
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:20:09.460 --> 00:20:11.560
Genie Joseph: Well, we're going to take a short little break when we come back.
00:20:11.560 --> 00:20:14.660
Genie Joseph: I want you to tell us another wonderful story because that was so beautiful.
00:20:14.660 --> 00:20:16.220
Karen Thomas: Okay.
00:20:16.220 --> 00:20:18.240
Genie Joseph: We'll get back in just a moment.
00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:25.120
Announcer: Hey friends, if you like what you're hearing and want to learn more, check out Dr.
00:20:25.120 --> 00:20:31.940
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00:20:32.680 --> 00:20:39.880
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00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:42.240
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00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:44.000
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00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:28.580
Announcer: Let's Talk Pets on petliferadio.com.
00:21:34.540 --> 00:21:38.600
Genie Joseph: Welcome back to The Human-Animal Connection, where I'm speaking with Karen Thomas.
00:21:38.600 --> 00:21:46.340
Genie Joseph: She is the founder of the nonprofit, Payton's Promise, which helps dogs have the best days at the end of their life.
00:21:46.340 --> 00:22:03.360
Genie Joseph: So, this has been just so moving to hear these beautiful stories, and death is always going to be so sad for the humans, but in addition to the sadness, in the presence of the sadness, we can also have grace and joy and dignity, dignity and death.
00:22:03.360 --> 00:22:05.300
Genie Joseph: I think that that's really something.
00:22:05.300 --> 00:22:10.780
Genie Joseph: And I know I was also volunteering at the shelter all through COVID and starting my nonprofit all through COVID.
00:22:10.780 --> 00:22:12.600
Genie Joseph: So, we're sort of on parallel tracks with that.
00:22:12.600 --> 00:22:15.180
Genie Joseph: And shelter euthanasia is hard.
00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:17.260
Genie Joseph: It's not easy to do that.
00:22:17.260 --> 00:22:18.740
Genie Joseph: And there needs to be a better way.
00:22:18.740 --> 00:22:22.020
Genie Joseph: And it's no fault of the shelter workers who do the best they can.
00:22:22.120 --> 00:22:29.220
Genie Joseph: And they're faced with this unbelievable day after day, euthanasia after euthanasia.
00:22:29.220 --> 00:22:38.220
Genie Joseph: So, there just has to be a better way for us humans to plan this and to be better prepared and to listen to the animals.
00:22:38.220 --> 00:22:40.860
Genie Joseph: So, tell us another story that you'd like us to know about.
00:22:40.860 --> 00:22:43.180
Karen Thomas: Oh, okay.
00:22:43.180 --> 00:22:44.500
Karen Thomas: Yes, I agree with you.
00:22:44.680 --> 00:22:48.740
Karen Thomas: And I feel like everybody should have a bucket list for their animals.
00:22:48.740 --> 00:22:52.800
Karen Thomas: And it doesn't even have to be, you don't even have to wait until the end of their lives.
00:22:52.800 --> 00:22:57.400
Karen Thomas: Like if it's something you know your dog loves, treat them to it.
00:22:57.400 --> 00:23:08.220
Karen Thomas: So, our very first inaugural dog who walks through the doors above us, he came to me in August 1st, actually, of 2022.
00:23:08.220 --> 00:23:17.420
Karen Thomas: And when I went to Miami to the shelter and I saw him, I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him, but I could just tell by looking at him that he was very sick.
00:23:18.380 --> 00:23:23.880
Karen Thomas: Nothing that was diagnosed yet, but I just knew in my heart that he had a lot going on.
00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:26.980
Karen Thomas: So, he came to us and he did.
00:23:26.980 --> 00:23:31.380
Karen Thomas: He had a large melanoma that was growing on his abdomen.
00:23:31.380 --> 00:23:33.420
Karen Thomas: I mean, large melanoma.
00:23:33.420 --> 00:23:34.960
Karen Thomas: Had that removed.
00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:43.540
Karen Thomas: What I didn't know was that he was completely full of cancer, probably was full of cancer when I got him out of the shelter, didn't know.
00:23:43.540 --> 00:23:46.920
Karen Thomas: So, he was amazing dog, just amazing.
00:23:47.020 --> 00:23:50.220
Karen Thomas: He was the meeter, the greeter, so loving, so grateful.
00:23:50.220 --> 00:23:57.940
Karen Thomas: And when he stopped, his appetite really went down and there was just a big change in him.
00:23:57.940 --> 00:23:59.500
Karen Thomas: This was the middle of June.
00:23:59.500 --> 00:24:04.820
Karen Thomas: I took him in for a thorough exam and the doctor x-rayed his belly to see what was going on.
00:24:04.820 --> 00:24:14.000
Karen Thomas: Well, the belly captured the bottom of his lung fields and we saw that he was full of nodules and cancer and I thought, okay, he doesn't have much longer.
00:24:14.700 --> 00:24:18.000
Karen Thomas: So what happened was we, I didn't know how much time he had.
00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:22.800
Karen Thomas: He wound up having six more weeks, so he passed the end of July.
00:24:22.800 --> 00:24:27.000
Karen Thomas: Every day, it was, Bubba, what do you want to do today?
00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:30.960
Karen Thomas: We just bubba-pressed it every single day because who knew?
00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:32.860
Karen Thomas: We didn't know what day would be the day.
00:24:33.160 --> 00:24:38.020
Karen Thomas: We literally didn't want to eat, we had to hand feed him.
00:24:38.020 --> 00:24:43.220
Karen Thomas: Every day, he literally would tell me something different or circle back to something that he really loved.
00:24:43.700 --> 00:24:48.020
Karen Thomas: And one of the things was a golf cart ride.
00:24:48.020 --> 00:24:49.700
Karen Thomas: One of my friends has a golf cart.
00:24:49.700 --> 00:24:56.820
Karen Thomas: And we had this whole system to get him in because he was really running low on energy and stamina.
00:24:56.820 --> 00:24:59.320
Karen Thomas: But he loved this attention.
00:24:59.820 --> 00:25:05.340
Karen Thomas: We would get him in, we would help him in, lay him on the back, and sometimes I would sit back there with him.
00:25:05.340 --> 00:25:09.920
Karen Thomas: And it was like he would parade.
00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:10.720
Karen Thomas: It was like a parade.
00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:16.700
Karen Thomas: We would travel around the neighborhood and everybody would wave and knew who he was.
00:25:16.700 --> 00:25:21.740
Karen Thomas: We would stop for popsicles, we would stop for ice cream on the way home.
00:25:22.140 --> 00:25:27.080
Karen Thomas: It was just every single day, he got to do something very special.
00:25:27.080 --> 00:25:30.460
Karen Thomas: And it took the energy out of him.
00:25:30.460 --> 00:25:39.440
Karen Thomas: Whatever it was, whether it was just a ride around the block, or whether it was a massage, it took so much.
00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:43.440
Karen Thomas: But he slept most of the day, we just kept him comfortable.
00:25:44.020 --> 00:25:46.920
Karen Thomas: But that was so joyful to him.
00:25:46.920 --> 00:26:03.920
Karen Thomas: So this went on for six weeks, and he was ready, he was getting very close, but I knew the day that he was ready, he was ready, and my vet was on call for weeks, because we just, and it turned out to be exactly 365 days later.
00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:09.800
Karen Thomas: So he came in on August 1st, by July 31st, he was ready to go.
00:26:09.800 --> 00:26:18.920
Karen Thomas: And he had a very peaceful, we had it all set up, and again, we did everything we could, and people came to visit him.
00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:21.920
Karen Thomas: It was just so he had a best last six weeks.
00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:24.420
Karen Thomas: And when he transitioned, it was very beautiful.
00:26:24.580 --> 00:26:29.320
Karen Thomas: And again, he has been coming, I feel his presence almost every day.
00:26:29.320 --> 00:26:43.820
Karen Thomas: So, but the story behind that is, or fast forward, I should say, he passed and I kept hearing like, he kept saying, I will show you, I will guide you, like I will give you messages.
00:26:43.820 --> 00:26:59.520
Karen Thomas: So when we were ready to fill his kennel, so to speak, when the grief subsided and the dynamic shifts in the group and the pack as it always does when a pack member leaves, I went up to Miami.
00:26:59.520 --> 00:27:03.180
Karen Thomas: And I have to say, I have to just preface it with Miami has almost a thousand dogs.
00:27:03.180 --> 00:27:05.240
Karen Thomas: There are at least 800.
00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:09.080
Karen Thomas: They were up to almost a thousand at the time that I went in September.
00:27:09.080 --> 00:27:10.940
Karen Thomas: It was like a month later.
00:27:10.940 --> 00:27:13.780
Karen Thomas: And so that's a lot of kennels.
00:27:13.780 --> 00:27:23.700
Karen Thomas: So I was walking through the kennels and one of the volunteers said, is there any way, I mean, I know there's hundreds and hundreds of dogs, but there's this old dog.
00:27:23.700 --> 00:27:25.160
Karen Thomas: They're going to euthanize him soon.
00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:27.380
Karen Thomas: And he's so fragile.
00:27:27.380 --> 00:27:31.000
Karen Thomas: And, you know, he's just a favorite of the volunteers.
00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:33.480
Karen Thomas: Is there any way you think you can open your heart to him?
00:27:33.480 --> 00:27:35.380
Karen Thomas: And I was like, who's this dog?
00:27:35.380 --> 00:27:37.200
Karen Thomas: And she walked me over to him.
00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:44.040
Karen Thomas: And sure enough, he was in kennel G13, the very same kennel that Bubba's in when I met him.
00:27:44.040 --> 00:27:46.800
Karen Thomas: And I was like, of course, he was in Bubba's little kennel.
00:27:46.800 --> 00:27:50.000
Karen Thomas: Of course, his name is Tanner and he's with us today.
00:27:50.320 --> 00:27:57.020
Karen Thomas: And yeah, so he's been with us since September and he has a lot of issues and having a hard time with pain.
00:27:57.020 --> 00:27:58.380
Karen Thomas: But it was just very beautiful.
00:27:58.380 --> 00:28:00.440
Karen Thomas: Like Bubba sent us the next one.
00:28:00.440 --> 00:28:01.620
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:28:01.620 --> 00:28:06.020
Karen Thomas: It's just amazing how the energy is just connected.
00:28:06.020 --> 00:28:08.240
Karen Thomas: And it's like one after another, after another.
00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:12.560
Karen Thomas: And how everyone that passes kind of helps us along.
00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:16.220
Karen Thomas: And he still, he visits us through feathers.
00:28:16.220 --> 00:28:17.760
Karen Thomas: Every time there's a white feather.
00:28:17.760 --> 00:28:19.780
Karen Thomas: In the funniest place, we know it's him.
00:28:19.860 --> 00:28:24.880
Karen Thomas: And another one of our dogs, Tiger, visits us through a monarch butterfly.
00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:29.740
Karen Thomas: Every time monarch, and it comes often, comes to the yard.
00:28:29.740 --> 00:28:34.500
Karen Thomas: But it's just beautiful how they come in and they check on, you know, everybody's good.
00:28:34.500 --> 00:28:35.380
Karen Thomas: Okay.
00:28:35.380 --> 00:28:35.640
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:28:35.640 --> 00:28:38.000
Genie Joseph: They just come in for a little wisp and off they go.
00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:38.520
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:28:38.520 --> 00:28:39.540
Karen Thomas: Yeah.
00:28:39.540 --> 00:28:43.980
Genie Joseph: Let's talk a little bit about the mechanics of the euthanasia from a spiritual point of view.
00:28:43.980 --> 00:28:46.160
Genie Joseph: Like we know what the doctor has to do.
00:28:46.700 --> 00:28:56.220
Genie Joseph: But what can we do as humans to make that process more peaceful, graceful, respectful?
00:28:56.220 --> 00:28:56.720
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:28:56.720 --> 00:28:58.740
Karen Thomas: So the actual euthanasia itself.
00:28:58.740 --> 00:28:59.700
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:28:59.700 --> 00:29:06.780
Karen Thomas: You know what I found that dogs absolutely love, animals absolutely love.
00:29:06.780 --> 00:29:09.200
Karen Thomas: I just happened to work with dogs exclusively.
00:29:10.260 --> 00:29:28.220
Karen Thomas: When you're there with them, and before that day or after the sedative is given, they love to hear stories like how we first met, what our favorite times were together, do you remember the time when?
00:29:28.220 --> 00:29:32.020
Karen Thomas: It brings laughter, it brings tears, it brings-
00:29:32.020 --> 00:29:32.980
Karen Thomas: they love that.
00:29:32.980 --> 00:29:46.140
Karen Thomas: They love when we reminisce, they love hearing it again at how we first met, you know, the first time you fell in love with me, the first time we went on an adventure.
00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:56.700
Karen Thomas: And it just strengthens, I feel from a spiritual level, it just strengthens that bond in it, it validates that relationship, it validates it, it's like a life review.
00:29:56.700 --> 00:29:56.900
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:29:57.360 --> 00:30:08.280
Karen Thomas: And then it gives the human validation like, okay, this is, there was so much substance, and so much emotion, and so much joy in our life, right?
00:30:08.900 --> 00:30:14.600
Karen Thomas: It's not just the sorrow now, but let's remember all of, yes, we need to breathe and get through it.
00:30:14.600 --> 00:30:23.660
Karen Thomas: So I find that when I recommend that to clients, or people just really reminisce and tell them stories, they find that very comforting.
00:30:23.660 --> 00:30:23.820
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:30:23.880 --> 00:30:26.460
Karen Thomas: Because it gives them something to do, right?
00:30:27.280 --> 00:30:29.220
Karen Thomas: People have a hard time just being and-
00:30:29.220 --> 00:30:30.020
Genie Joseph: Right.
00:30:30.020 --> 00:30:31.140
Genie Joseph: In the space of passing.
00:30:31.140 --> 00:30:31.980
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:30:31.980 --> 00:30:32.940
Genie Joseph: And what about touch?
00:30:32.940 --> 00:30:34.960
Genie Joseph: Do you find that touch helps or-
00:30:35.180 --> 00:30:42.900
Genie Joseph: I heard one person, I don't agree with them, but I heard one end of life doula say, don't touch the person when they're leaving because it confuses them and they stay.
00:30:42.900 --> 00:30:44.700
Genie Joseph: But I don't agree with that with animals.
00:30:44.700 --> 00:30:49.340
Genie Joseph: But what are your thoughts about touch in that moment, post-shot in the transition?
00:30:49.340 --> 00:30:50.420
Genie Joseph: What do you think about that?
00:30:50.420 --> 00:30:52.280
Karen Thomas: No, I touch all the time.
00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:54.720
Karen Thomas: I hold, I cradle whatever I can do.
00:30:54.720 --> 00:31:04.940
Karen Thomas: I think it's very, I mean, their spirit has a very certain trajectory and they don't leave this earth a moment before or a moment after they're supposed to.
00:31:04.940 --> 00:31:08.780
Karen Thomas: It's very, there's nothing we can do that's going to stop it, contain it.
00:31:08.780 --> 00:31:19.660
Karen Thomas: Like, I just feel the touch is very, it's just very soothing for the physical body because the physical body isn't so much pain at that point, is so tired, is so emaciated.
00:31:20.180 --> 00:31:25.740
Karen Thomas: It's just that comforting, extra soothing nudge for the spirit to leave.
00:31:25.740 --> 00:31:29.280
Karen Thomas: And it's just a very loving way to honor the animal.
00:31:29.280 --> 00:31:30.160
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:30.540
Genie Joseph: Great.
00:31:30.540 --> 00:31:31.320
Genie Joseph: Beautiful.
00:31:31.320 --> 00:31:32.340
Genie Joseph: Well, let's talk a little bit.
00:31:32.340 --> 00:31:36.460
Genie Joseph: You're 100% donation nonprofit organization.
00:31:36.460 --> 00:31:38.000
Genie Joseph: How can people get in touch with you?
00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:39.040
Genie Joseph: Do you have volunteers?
00:31:39.040 --> 00:31:41.760
Genie Joseph: Tell us just a little bit about how your organization works.
00:31:41.760 --> 00:31:42.260
Karen Thomas: Yes.
00:31:42.260 --> 00:31:46.440
Karen Thomas: I am a small but mighty organization and I have intentions on growing.
00:31:46.440 --> 00:31:47.160
Karen Thomas: We're getting there.
00:31:47.860 --> 00:31:52.780
Karen Thomas: I have a few core volunteers that are just vital to what we do.
00:31:52.780 --> 00:31:55.620
Karen Thomas: We rely on fundraising and donations.
00:31:55.620 --> 00:31:58.480
Karen Thomas: And because our vet bills are quite high.
00:31:58.480 --> 00:32:04.860
Karen Thomas: So I have, I'm on all, well, I shouldn't say all social media platforms, but I'm on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok.
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:15.540
Karen Thomas: My website is paytonspromisesanctuary.org, and that's Payton's as P-A-Y-T-O-N-S, promisesanctuary.org.
00:32:17.180 --> 00:32:19.600
Karen Thomas: We have a donate page.
00:32:19.600 --> 00:32:23.120
Karen Thomas: There are opportunities to sponsor one of the animals.
00:32:23.120 --> 00:32:31.640
Karen Thomas: If one of them really strikes a chord with you, I have two blind dogs right now that are really favorites to the community.
00:32:32.840 --> 00:32:41.140
Karen Thomas: Simon has been blind probably since birth, and Noelle had both of her eyes removed since she's been with me in this past year.
00:32:41.140 --> 00:32:44.560
Karen Thomas: So she's been on a huge medical journey, and she's a favorite now.
00:32:44.560 --> 00:32:48.500
Karen Thomas: She's learning how to live life in a new way.
00:32:48.500 --> 00:32:58.120
Karen Thomas: And then we have Chewy Wishlist and Amazon Wishlist, and we're just so grateful for any help that people can offer to make these dogs live their best lives.
00:32:58.920 --> 00:32:59.660
Genie Joseph: Great.
00:32:59.660 --> 00:33:04.220
Genie Joseph: Well, I want to thank you Karen Thomas, Payton's Promise for the wonderful, beautiful work you're doing.
00:33:04.220 --> 00:33:09.060
Genie Joseph: And I know that we're going to be talking to you again, and working together more closely.
00:33:09.060 --> 00:33:09.560
Karen Thomas: Excellent.
00:33:09.560 --> 00:33:10.280
Karen Thomas: Thank you, Jeannie.
00:33:10.280 --> 00:33:12.820
Karen Thomas: It was so great to be here with you.
00:33:12.820 --> 00:33:16.820
Genie Joseph: And thank you all for tuning in to The Human-Animal Connection podcast.
00:33:16.820 --> 00:33:18.680
Genie Joseph: We'll see you at the next episode.
00:33:24.005 --> 00:33:27.045
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