Bear's Ramblings

Pet peeves plus

2005-06-23

Sadness of Pet Ownership

Today I had to do a favor for a friend. I took his beloved pet, Joey a blue healer that he had had for over 11 years, to the Vet to be put out of his misery. Poor Joey had very bad arthritis and was without teeth. Joey spent the night here and it was real sad to see him trying to lay down or even worse, get back up again. Poor Joey had trouble getting up and down the steps of my house. When I took Joey to the vet, the worst thing was the way that Joey reacted and looked at me as he was lead to the back of the vets office. It was as if he knew why he was there.

Unfortunately, that was not my first experience with suffering pets. A couple years ago I had a fluffy white cat, Lilly, who suddenly started having seizures. To keep the dogs from eating all of her food, we kept it on top of a high stool. Often Lilly would be eating and suddenly have a seizure and fall to the floor. Lilly had other seizures and she would hide under the bed for long periods of time, as if she thought that she had done something wrong. To stop Lilly's suffering I took her to the humane society where they relieved her of her suffering.

Last year, my 'lap dog' Belle, a blue great dane, started getting a growth in her mouth that was growing with great speed. Within a few weeks it was well over an inch long so I took her to the vet. The vet gave her some medication but it did know good. Within a very short time the growth had grown to be about 2.5 inches long and 0.5 inches wide along her upper jaw. So, back to the vet to have the growth removed. The vet said afterwards that it was surely cancerous and that he could send it to a lab to find out if it was malignant or not(about $200). I did not have the money. Within less than a week the growth had grown back and was even larger than before it had been removed. It was obvious that she was suffering greatly, so we made one last trip to the vet.

Those two events were probably the two most difficult things that I have ever had to do as well as the most painful. But as hard and painful as it was I will continue to have pets for all of the joy that they provide.