Gus Kenworthy’s Adopted Dog From Pyeongchang Olympics Dies From A Heart Defect

Gus Kenworthy's Adopted Dog From Pyeongchang Olympics Dies From A Heart Defect

Gus Kenworthy had to say goodbye to his dog Beemo on May 26, after his pup died from a heart defect. Gus announced the heartbreaking news that Beemo died on his Instagram account over Memorial Day Weekend. The Olympic snowboarder adopted Beemo from a dog farm during the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, earlier this year.

"Two days ago my beautiful baby Beemo passed away," Gus wrote alongside a pic of Beemo licking his ear. "It was completely unexpected and Matt [Wilkas] and I are beside ourselves trying to cope with her loss. For a week or so we’d been worrying because she was showing less and less interest in her food. There were several trips to the vet and on our final visit this past Thursday I asked them do a full body scan in case there was an underlying issue they had missed. Beemo went into a panic attack during the x-rays and her breathing became rapid and shallow. The scan revealed that her lungs were deteriorated and that her heart was too big for her body – a birth defect we had no way of knowing about."

Gus and his boyfriend Matt Wilkas shared the pup together, and rushed her to an emergency vet to try and get her treated, but it was to no avail.

"The past two days have been a blur. It all happened so fast that it's still hard to believe it. The ER doc told us that even if we'd somehow spotted the issue earlier it wouldn't have made a difference in the end. He said that she'd been living on "borrowed time" from the get go," he continued.

Gus continued his post with a touching tribute to Beemo, who he said everyone loved.

"Beemo was truly the best thing that ever happened to me and I feel so fortunate for our borrowed time together. I've never loved anything or anyone in the way that I loved that dog and she is and will always be deeply missed. She was so smart and playful. She brought so much happiness to so many people every single day. I'll always remember being out on a walk with her and every other second she would get stopped by someone wanting to pet her, kneel down and kiss her, hold her in their arms or take a photo and on many occasions a crowd of people would have formed around her. That was her power: she made people smile."

"If any of you have pets up in doggy heaven please tell them to go find Bee because she could really use a good play date right now. RIP sweet creature – your daddy loves you more than you could ever even know," her concluded.

Gus famously adopted stray dogs from Sochi in his Olympic debut there. Then when she was in South Korea this year, he chose to start a new trend among athletes by adopting dogs from dog farms.

WATCH: Gus Kenworthy Rescues Pup From Korean Dog Meat Farm Before Leaving Olympics