A remembrance of Highway

04/11/2025 I saw Highway get hit by a truck while I was living on Roatan on Jan. 19, 2013. I stopped and picked him up, he was howling, obviously in pain. I got in touch with a “vet” on the island who met us at his office. I didn’t know then that the “vet” was not a good vet. He sewed him up, gave him some shots and we were on our way. I took him back to the condo I was living in for 4 months.

My cat was very unhappy. He was so hungry, all he wanted to do was eat. I nursed him back to health as best I could.

A week or so later I found Dr Calderon, another vet, a wonderful man. He was our vet from that point on. Highway grew like a weed, he chased the cat relentlessly and she hated him. He napped in an extra kitty litter box by day and slept in a large birdcage by my bed at night.

Chance came to visit and we took Highway to West Bay Beach after his leg was healed. He wasn’t too sure he liked it.

Bill came while Chance was still here. He came to get me back home with a cat and now a dog. He flew Highway with him and I had Emmy with me. When we got back to Seattle we had a long drive home. Once we got home we introduced Highway to our other dog Dooce.

That summer we were packing to move to Roatan. We sold our house in August and moved into an apartment in October. On Oct 26 we rented a van and drove with 2 dogs, a cat, their crates, 5 checked bags and 3 carry-ons to Seattle. We took a red eye to Atlanta and from there onto the island.

We rented a house right by our future house. It was so convenient. The dogs had a big yard to play and it was all fenced in.

We finally moved into our own house, it was so nice to be somewhere final. The dogs were adjusting. We had taken another dog from friends who left the island, Lucky. He was a good dog, he and Highway got along well.

Dooce died 11/29/2014. We were devastated. We never figured out what happened to her, she got sick and was gone in a week. Highway missed her. Then in Dec of that year, I got Lola. She adored Highway and he loved her right back.

All was well on the dog front. In March of 2015 I found Frito at a schoolyard with a compound fracture, brought her home, had her leg amputated and a month after the surgery she blessed us with 7 pups. Lucky didn’t like the pups so he went to live with friends. Lola was obsessed with the pups, so much so that she and Frito had terrible fights. We had to keep them separated.

Frito went to live in the US with my friend Teri. Frito passed on 10/18/2023. Four of the pups found homes and we kept 3. I brought the 3 boys back when I moved to AZ. Bill brought Highway a year after I moved back and Lola went to live with Dr Mariela. She is doing well and is treated like a princess. Bill, the 3 boys and Highway and I were all in AZ.

Bill drove the RV with Highway and Gringo and I drove my car with Max and Barrio. We did a leisurely 5 days drive to Kentucky, to 31 acres of land we had never seen. I had never set foot in Ky before we crossed the state line.

We lived in the RV for 7 LOOOONG months. Bill got really sick after Christmas and was hospitalized for 3 weeks. I was in the RV with four dogs, no heat and no running water. After 3 nights in a motel I found a fishing cabin to rent in the middle of nowhere.

It was there that Highway started getting sick. We saw the local vet, he referred us to the vet in Glasgow. They were at a loss and referred us to a vet in Louisville. They did x-rays and bloodwork, put him on different meds to try, nothing was really working. The one sinus was all messed up. They thought he may have inhaled something that was lodged in there but, nope. They suggested a CAT scan so we did that. The best they could figure was a bacteria. He was put on meds forever. He had a few episodes after but nothing serious.

When Bill moved me here Highway got sick again and had to go to a vet here. Other than that he was ok, aside from his hip that we couldn’t get fixed in the states because of his extremely high WBC. Our local vet in KY says the bacteria they found at Metropolitan Animal Hosp was one he had never heard of. He believes this bacteria lies dormant in Highway’s lungs and then for whatever reason the pustules rupture, releasing the bacteria and causing him distress. Bill said he was fine until the night before last when he couldn’t breathe, he was taking 60 breaths a minute. Bill took him to the local vet who sent him to Glasgow. They did X-rays and bloodwork but came up with nothing. The vet told Bill that this might do him in. It did. He passed at 1:30 this morning. He just went quietly in his sleep.

RIP Highway, aka Lizard Lips, Idiot and Doofus. Say hi to Frito, Dooce and Gringo. You were so loved.