Saying Goodbye

I had to say goodbye to my little Papillion Friday. He was diagnosed about a year ago, with congestive heart failure, an enlarged heart and he had a cancerous tumor on his side. The vet gave him anywhere from 3 months to 1 year to live. He had been doing pretty good with some signs of the congestive heart failure, like panting and hacking. His tumor had grown quite a bit over the past couple of months and I had thought about taking him in to have it looked at. Wednesday night he seemed fine, barking and wagging his tail. Thursday morning he didn't want to come out of the crate. He and Fritz, our Pommeranian, stay in the Lab's big crate at night together. He was still sleeping so my daughter and I went off to feed horses and he still wasn't up when I got home. I tried to get him to come out of the crate but all he would do was stand up and pant. He didn't eat or drink all day. When my husband came home, he brought up a smaller crate for Pepper. He took him outside to see if he would potty and he did. We also put some water by his head and he drank. He was thirsty. We transferred him to the smaller crate with some towels in it and I put a gerbil type water bottle on the door so he could drink. Friday morning I made an appointment to take him in and have him put down. I knew it was time. He was not able to get up anymore. All he would do is lay in the crate and pant.

The vet was very nice. Pepper had had diarrhea in his crate by the time we got to the vet's office. They took him out and wrapped him in a clean towel. They rinsed out the crate for me. The vet came in and explained what would happen. They put a catheter in his paw in case he pulled away, she wouldn't have to poke him twice. They brought Pepper back in wrapped in a clean towel so I could hold him. I could have as much time with him as I wanted and we just knocked on the door when we were ready. The vet came in and gave the shot and he was gone almost instantly. Again, they gave us as much time as we wanted to say goodbye and we knocked on the door when we were ready.

This is the part of having pets that I'm really bad at. I hate to say goodbye to them. Pepper was 14 so he wasn't a pup anymore but it's still hard. I also expected him to get sicker more gradually so it took me by surprise.

Fritz, the Pommeranian doesn't like sleeping in the crate by himself. He barked most of Friday night. Saturday night we left him wrapped (he wears a diaper) so he could stay out of the crate and wouldn't bark. Sunday night I put two stuffed animals in the crate with him and he was quiet. Last night and tonight he started barking again for a while and he finally settled down. He doesn't think he should be in the crate if Pepper isn't in the crate.

I am dogsitting for my ex-son-in-law's Chocolate Lab right now and will have him for a year. His name is Snickers. He's a good dog and a bit goofy. He loves to play and has a thing for tennis balls. He will run himself to death, if you let him, chasing tennis balls. He also likes to play with his rope bone. He's been good company since I've had to say goodbye to Pepper. I think maybe God sent him to me to help fill the void that Pepper left.