Dogs are family also. ---- ROBERT CHAPEL <bcha...@optonline.net> wrote: > > Hello All: > While I know that our group is about cats... lately friends and family > have been losing their long time canine companions.... I cam across > the piece below quite by mistake but it moved me enough to pass it > along...it applies equally to cats...... > Bob C > ============================================================== > > To most, he was “just” a dog. To me, he was so much more than just a > best friend, he was an integral part of my life, and my world for over > 14 years. I was there to see him take his first breath in this world. > And I was there when he breathed his last, after a long and, I hope, > happy life. And when he left this world, it was as if a large piece of > me was violently torn away. Eventually the countless happy memories of > the all too brief time I had with him will crowd out the anguish of the > last moments we spent. For now, I can take only cold comfort in knowing > that when it came time to make the call, I did right by him. His body > was on the verge of a “cascading system failure”, but it had not yet > progressed to the point where it had broken his spirit. I had been > waiting for him to tell me it was his time for some while, but it was > his prognosis that finally sealed it. He was not going to get better; > he would only get worse. Even with surgery — which at his age was more > risk than solution — his best case was a few months, and those would > have been pain ridden. > > > I don’t suppose I’ll ever stop second guessing whether I waited too > long or not long enough. But in the circumstances keeping him going > through heroic measures would have been for my benefit, not his. > > > When you bring a dog into your life, you make a bargain. Tonka never > once failed to deliver on his side of that bargain. And as much as it > hurt — and will continue to hurt — I had to deliver on mine. > > > Goodnight pal, see you on the other side. I love you, buddy.
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