[Felvtalk] Nicely Stated...

ROBERT CHAPEL bchapel at optonline.net
Tue Apr 25 16:14:20 CDT 2017


Hi Folks....

Once again I sent something to the list and it has not appeared in my 
mail...so I have no idea if it made it to the group......
My brother had to put down his buddy ( a border collie) of 14 yrs the 
other day and I had come across a piece a fellow wrote about losing his 
own dog after the same amount of time.... though this is about the loss 
of  a dog it is equally applicable to cats and captures the sentiment 
just beautifully..
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



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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