Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
So Long Frankie... I'll see you again some day.
I believe that the most painful experience in life is when a pet dies. A lot of you are going to think that is a cold statement because a pet is not human but I still believe this is true. I believe that it is true because it is extremely difficult to convey to another human being what you are feeling when a pet dies and the loss of your beloved pet is too painful to accept. Fear of being looked at as an 'animal lover', or an weak minded individual. Although many pets have passed through my life it always seems to be more painful when another one passes. I just never get used to it.
I have always been a 'animal lover' and today my wife and myself had to bury our eleven year old golden retriever because of a disease he had for many months that we were unaware of. It was the most painful time that I could remember in recent history. I know that sounds a bit extreme but we adopted him and his sister at the age of 6 weeks. We were the mother and father in their minds and they didn't [don't] know the difference. They never knew anyone else to be their care givers. I must say that I could have done a better job at that. If Frankie had gone for his bi-yearly checkups maybe the vet would have caught this disease while something still could be done about it. Hind sight is always 20/20.
Yet as the veterinarian injected the poison into his vein, he looked at me as if to say 'hold on to me dad, this hurts.' I held his head and stroked his face and told him that it was going to be alright, and that he will feel much better when it is over. And it was, in less than five minutes he was gone. My heart sank. The vet and her assistant left the room to give me some time to say goodbye to my faithful friend. I still didn't want to let go, it seemed so surreal. Now he is not suffering anymore and is buried in the spot he loved the most, amongst our rose bushes.
He would lay half under the front deck and into the rose garden I believe because he not only loved the shade and the coolness of the soil, but he could keep track of when his mother or I would move into or out of the house. The only time he didn't lie there was when we were all outside sitting in lawn chairs enjoying the day, he would always come and lay beside our chairs because that is where he belonged and we was eager to please and feel close to us. To all of you who let your dogs roam free, it is not that I am against letting them roam because that is what a dog loves to do, it is what they get into while they are roaming that you are unaware of.
Our veterinarian suspected that he had gotten into some anti-freeze a short time ago and it caused kidney failure. I knew that he had hip displaysia and I thought that it was getting to the point that he needed to be on pain reliever for it so we loaded him into the van and to the vets we went. Except as the vet was examining him she said she believed he had kidney failure. We did a blood test to confirm that diagnoses. Sure enough, his readings were off the chart and she then told us his body was shutting down and it was time to let him go. She left the room to give us time to 'get used to the idea'. As we sat there bawling our eyes out and holding on to one of the two additions to our family that brought us so much joy and companionship, we knew we had to let him go. He was suffering, although he never let on that he was. Now we are left with a gaping hole in our hearts and our life that we will depend on Debbie, his sister, to fill and I know she will do a good job of it and we will help her with her pain of losing a life long companion as well.
Please if you love your dogs and cats and let them roam, keep a watchful eye and don't let them get themselves into trouble that you may not be able to get them out of like they depend on you to do.
In Loving Memory of Frankie.. Gone but never forgotten.We Love You Boy..
5/11/1998 - 3/20/2009
To leave comments about this post or any post click on the comments link below the post.
I have always been a 'animal lover' and today my wife and myself had to bury our eleven year old golden retriever because of a disease he had for many months that we were unaware of. It was the most painful time that I could remember in recent history. I know that sounds a bit extreme but we adopted him and his sister at the age of 6 weeks. We were the mother and father in their minds and they didn't [don't] know the difference. They never knew anyone else to be their care givers. I must say that I could have done a better job at that. If Frankie had gone for his bi-yearly checkups maybe the vet would have caught this disease while something still could be done about it. Hind sight is always 20/20.
Yet as the veterinarian injected the poison into his vein, he looked at me as if to say 'hold on to me dad, this hurts.' I held his head and stroked his face and told him that it was going to be alright, and that he will feel much better when it is over. And it was, in less than five minutes he was gone. My heart sank. The vet and her assistant left the room to give me some time to say goodbye to my faithful friend. I still didn't want to let go, it seemed so surreal. Now he is not suffering anymore and is buried in the spot he loved the most, amongst our rose bushes.
He would lay half under the front deck and into the rose garden I believe because he not only loved the shade and the coolness of the soil, but he could keep track of when his mother or I would move into or out of the house. The only time he didn't lie there was when we were all outside sitting in lawn chairs enjoying the day, he would always come and lay beside our chairs because that is where he belonged and we was eager to please and feel close to us. To all of you who let your dogs roam free, it is not that I am against letting them roam because that is what a dog loves to do, it is what they get into while they are roaming that you are unaware of.
Our veterinarian suspected that he had gotten into some anti-freeze a short time ago and it caused kidney failure. I knew that he had hip displaysia and I thought that it was getting to the point that he needed to be on pain reliever for it so we loaded him into the van and to the vets we went. Except as the vet was examining him she said she believed he had kidney failure. We did a blood test to confirm that diagnoses. Sure enough, his readings were off the chart and she then told us his body was shutting down and it was time to let him go. She left the room to give us time to 'get used to the idea'. As we sat there bawling our eyes out and holding on to one of the two additions to our family that brought us so much joy and companionship, we knew we had to let him go. He was suffering, although he never let on that he was. Now we are left with a gaping hole in our hearts and our life that we will depend on Debbie, his sister, to fill and I know she will do a good job of it and we will help her with her pain of losing a life long companion as well.
Please if you love your dogs and cats and let them roam, keep a watchful eye and don't let them get themselves into trouble that you may not be able to get them out of like they depend on you to do.
In Loving Memory of Frankie.. Gone but never forgotten.We Love You Boy..
5/11/1998 - 3/20/2009
To leave comments about this post or any post click on the comments link below the post.
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