We do, even though every day is a good day to celebrate love and time together. I’m not deeply invested in things like Valentine’s Day or anniversaries. I don’t need jewelry from anyone, and I do not like receiving flowers just to smell them, then watch them die. I do, however, want good days, and Murph makes them good. Even when he doesn’t feel his spunky self, he completes me & adds beauty to my days. So, I want to celebrate a ½ year mark this time – our 7½ years together!
Someone begged me multiple times to adopt Lil’ Murph from a teenager to give him a better life. Like for many kids, teens, and even some adults, the excitement of a new animal to love quickly waned, and the animal was forced into unhappiness. I regret I didn’t accept him the first time it was mentioned. The main reason was that I was dealing with possibly making a life-changing decision and didn’t want the extra responsibility because I didn’t know where my future would be. How selfish of me! A beautiful bearded dragon is not like having a huge, furry, costly, and sometimes laborious dog or something.
After visiting Murph multiple times, I saw he was alone in a dark room, with no view and incorrect lighting & heating requirements. One day, I got him to drink from a water dish by putting it before him and dripping water onto his lips. As the drops dripped into the water dish, he could then see the water. You see, despite having good eyesight, many lizards do not focus well on still water. But, it is good to keep clean water in their enclosure because they may find it. Upon seeing him gulp water from thirst, my heart sank into that dish for this 9″ long baby who loved attention and being held. By the way, Murph is now 20″ of spiky cuddliness!
I brought him to live with me on April 23, 2017.
🎉We are celebrating our 7½ year anniversary because I’m so grateful he is here!! And so is he!!🥰🦎🤍
Click HERE to see baby Murph!
And our 7 years recap HERE, if you’d like!
We did a 6 year anniversary special HERE as well!
Looks like we did a 2 year episode HERE!
Hmmph… Well, why didn’t we make posts for every anniversary?🤔Looks like that’s all of ’em.
Lil’ Murph was diagnosed with a fatal gastric neuroendocrine tumor (but doesn’t have all of those symptoms) on September 27th (based on blood work alone + the possibly felt/detection of a semi-solid mass at or near his liver).
I hope the vet or test results were somehow incorrect or that we are seeing a miracle because Murph looks so good! She put the option of euthanasia on the table that day. To which, with pain relief medicine, I declared that if Murph is going to be ripped away from me by death and is not in pain, it will be in his home.
If our animal friends can live at home in a hospice-type scenario, let them die with their family in loving arms, or upon the bed that is their own. And who knows… with further research, implementing what may help, and deep love, just maybe they’ll pull through.
I’m cautiously optimistic. There are days when he doesn’t eat, but he did that occasionally for years before the diagnosis. Some days, he is lethargic & a bit limp, but also, the weather is cooling & days are becoming shorter, so that behavior isn’t terribly alarming. My concern is that something still “feels off.”
Today is one of the more “blah” days for our Murph. Possibly due to the clouds and wind.
We’ll share what we are doing for Murph’s health in the next post.
We are going to design more Murph merch (even if I’m the only one that buys our own designs): https://www.zazzle.com/collections/metamurphosis_to_honor_earths_beautiful_lizards-119227189999810462?rf=238047654418509461
This collection for lizard lovers & Lil’ Murph fans is in our store that you can check out here:
https://www.zazzle.com/store/thedizzybutterfly?rf=238047654418509461
Thank you for being part of our years together.
“Give me Lizardry or give me Death!”
♥️ Murph & Dawn
LizardPlanet.com 
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