[MR] To friends of Frank and Susan Downs

[Susan and Frank Downs]

Dear friends,

Over the years, many of you have crashed with us for Marinus events, so you
came to know our dog, Junior.

This morning we took Junior to his vet.  He has been very ill.  He had lost
a lot of muscle mass, and was no longer able to get to his feet on his own.
He had kidney failure, and likely from a build up of toxins due to that, he
was very confused and would have siezures.  So, for the past couple of days,
if we did help him stand up, he would walk into walls, get stuck in a tight
corner or fall down.  In any of these cases, he started yowling.  Also, when
he wanted to get up, but couldn't, he started yowling.  There has been a lot
of yowling in our house for the past couple of days and nights.  Since we
couldn't just stay home all day, we haven't been able to care for him as
well as he really needed.

Consulting with the vet, we decided that Junior did not have much time left
and that he was not enjoying the life he was having and that there was no
hope of significantly improving his quality of life.  Furthermore, Junior's
condition was deteriorating right before our eyes in the vet's office.  With
all these factors in mind, at about noon today, with us standing beside him,
we had his vet administer a fatal dose of anesthetic to Junior.

Love,

Frank and Susan