Alison Croggon wrote:
>Talking of dogs, the family chihuahua Pippin died last night. She was
>around 19, and a deeply annoying animal (she was actually The Inheritance
>from my mother in law), but that didn't stop general distress at her
>passing. Dying isn't pretty. The end crisis came on very quickly, and we
>took her to the vet and had her put down. For all her age she was quite
>tough, and I expect would have taken ages to die; I couldn't bear watching
>her suffer. So goodbye to a rather eccentric chapter of my life.
>
>
Sad. Interesting, your reaction. Annoying dog (I don't like little
dogs either) yet you responded to its suffering and helped it die. I
guess that is the hardest obligation any human takes on when they
acquire an animal that cannot speak for itself, and we never think of it
when we first get the creature. "Cute puppy, cute kitty." Nineteen
makes the dog the Ancient of Days. I've always heard that the bigger
the dog, the shorter the life. We're guessing between 13-15 for ours,
he's 5 now, 100 pounds of grinning, somewhat paranoid, doofus. Yes, he
will piddle on people's shoes if he's excited to see them, but he's
pretty well cut back on that as he's gotten a bit older. I always joke
with my older son and tell him to wear old sneakers when he comes to
visit--the dog loves him.
Facing the inevitable with an animal is terrible. I went through this
in June 2002 when one of my cats developed inoperable liver cancer, at
age 7. I was crying, my SO was crying, even the vet was teary. He told
me later than putting down old, sick animals is not fun but it's not
gut-wrenching, at least for him as vet. The ones that get to him, even
after more than 20 years, are the animals that have been injured,
abused, or who are just too damned young.
ken
--
Kenneth Wolman
Proposal Development Department
Room SW334
Sarnoff Corporation
609-734-2538
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