Patrick Stewart's Wife Mourns Death of Their Foster Dog Days After Welcoming Him Into Their Home

Just five days after bringing home their foster dog Lenny, Sir Patrick Stewart and his wife shared the sad news that the canine had died.

After announcing they had welcomed the 10-year-old dog into their home, the 78-year-old actor and his wife Sunny Ozell had to say their goodbyes to Lenny, who had been rescued days earlier from a high-kill shelter.

“It breaks my heart to have to share this news—we eased our sweet boy Lenny over the Rainbow Bridge yesterday. There’s a reason folks use this euphemism… I didn’t ‘put him down’. I lifted him up out of his pain, I let him go, and I’ll hold his sweet spirit in my heart,” Stewart’s wife Sunny Ozell wrote in an emotional post, which she shared alongside a picture of Stewart and Lenny cuddling up together.

After bringing Lenny into the veterinarian on Monday for what was initially believed to be “kennel cough,” a kind of upper respiratory infection, Stewart and Ozell learned the heartbreaking news that the 10-year-old pup had contracted pneumonia.

“I rushed him to an excellent vet, who wasn’t certain he needed to be hospitalized, but as Lenny hadn’t eaten or drunk water that morning, I insisted on him being admitted and given IV fluids. Come Tuesday, pneumonia was diagnosed,” she wrote, adding that by Thursday, as Lenny’s “condition worsened” he was transferred to a “doggie intensive care unit.”

RELATED: Ashley Tisdale Shares Heartfelt Post After Her Dog Dies: ‘This Pain Is the Worst Pain’

Opening up about the many health problems Lenny faced, Ozell wrote that “there were signs of bowel obstruction, a heart murmur, and his blood pressure was haywire.”

“In short, he was undergoing multi-system failure. If Lenny had lived the life he deserved, he may have been strong enough to endure pneumonia,” she continued, explaining that unfortunately, Lenny had lived in difficult conditions prior to his rescue.

“After a life of neglect, his body didn’t have the resources to fight. Covered in thick callouses, and repeat fly strikes on his mutilated ears, it was clear Lenny had lived outside, probably on concrete…which would explain why he was so clearly delighted by anything soft. He was particularly partial to naps in Patrick’s favorite chair, and I’ll always remember him trotting happily towards it after his breakfast,” she added.

Stewart’s wife went on to describe Lenny’s emotional final moments before they made the difficult choice to put him down.

“At about 4:30 P.M. yesterday, Lenny’s doctor called me to let me know he believed it was time to let our sweet pup go. Thanks to LA traffic, I arrived at the hospital at about 5:10 P.M. I got down on the floor of Lenny’s space, and met his sweet old cataracts gaze. I kissed his big gorgeous mocha noggin, scratched softly behind his ears, and stroked his velvet snoot. I told him over and over how loved he was, and I held his paw,” she wrote.

Stewart and Ozell had

Just five days after bringing home their foster dog Lenny, Sir Patrick Stewart and his wife shared the heartbreaking news that the canine had died.

After announcing they had welcomed the 10-year-old dog into their home, the 78-year-old actor and his wife Sunny Ozell had to say their goodbyes to Lenny, who had been rescued days earlier from a high-kill shelter.

“It breaks my heart to have to share this news—we eased our sweet boy Lenny over the Rainbow Bridge yesterday. There’s a reason folks use this euphemism… I didn’t ‘put him down’. I lifted him up out of his pain, I let him go, and I’ll hold his sweet spirit in my heart,” Stewart’s wife Sunny Ozell wrote in an emotional post, which she shared alongside a picture of Stewart and Lenny cuddling up together.

After bringing Lenny into the veterinarian on Monday for what was initially believed to be “kennel cough,” a kind of upper respiratory infection, Stewart and Ozell learned the heartbreaking news that the 10-year-old pup had contracted pneumonia.

“I rushed him to an excellent vet, who wasn’t certain he needed to be hospitalized, but as Lenny hadn’t eaten or drunk water that morning, I insisted on him being admitted and given IV fluids. Come Tuesday, pneumonia was diagnosed,” she wrote, adding that by Thursday, as Lenny’s “condition worsened” he was transferred to a “doggie intensive care unit.”

RELATED: Ashley Tisdale Shares Heartfelt Post After Her Dog Dies: ‘This Pain Is the Worst Pain’

Opening up about the many health problems Lenny faced, Ozell wrote that “there were signs of bowel obstruction, a heart murmur, and his blood pressure was haywire.”

“In short, he was undergoing multi-system failure. If Lenny had lived the life he deserved, he may have been strong enough to endure pneumonia,” she continued, explaining that unfortunately, Lenny had lived in difficult conditions prior to his rescue.

“After a life of neglect, his body didn’t have the resources to fight. Covered in thick callouses, and repeat fly strikes on his mutilated ears, it was clear Lenny had lived outside, probably on concrete…which would explain why he was so clearly delighted by anything soft. He was particularly partial to naps in Patrick’s favorite chair, and I’ll always remember him trotting happily towards it after his breakfast,” she added.

Stewart’s wife went on to describe Lenny’s emotional final moments before they made the difficult choice to put him down.

“At about 4:30 P.M. yesterday, Lenny’s doctor called me to let me know he believed it was time to let our sweet pup go. Thanks to LA traffic, I arrived at the hospital at about 5:10 P.M. I got down on the floor of Lenny’s space, and met his sweet old cataracts gaze. I kissed his big gorgeous mocha noggin, scratched softly behind his ears, and stroked his velvet snoot. I told him over and over how loved he was, and I held his paw,” she wrote.

Stewart and Ozell had fostered Lenny from Los Angeles-based dog rescue Wags and Walks, which has helped stars including Paris Jackson and Tom Brady.

Stewart, who was at the rescue’s annual gala last year, previously fostered an adorable pit bull named Ginger as well as a pocket pit bull named Emma through the organization.