Dealing With The Loss Of A Pet

I loved my grandparents.  If you put a gun to my head, I’d have to admit I loved Noni and Papa more than I loved Sassy, Quint, or Cayenne(thank God you don’t have a gun to my head).

And yet losing them…and also Moth, Maggie, Cody and Honey was in one way much more difficult.  Why?  I believe is because they lived with me in my house.

For weeks after losing each and every one of my pets, I would see them out of the corner of my eye.  A flash of a golden tail in the kitchen; a little white bundle curled up on the bed; a black and white form streaking after a Frisbee in the backyard.

A pet is such an intimate loss.  No more misguided canine optimism beside the dinner table.  No one to purr you to sleep or lay his nose on your knee when the blues strike. A pet’s presence pervades your home in the best possible way.  Like your eighth-grade bowling trophy or the copper saucepan Aunt Peg gave you at your wedding shower, they are your day-to-day reality.  They are home to you more than your front door.

I’ve often asked myself which is worse…to loose a pet suddenly, without warning, or to have to make a decision to let a sick cat or dog go?  I’ve faced both.  At 4:30pm on a sunny Sunday afternoon one May, my Golden Retriever Honey was wondering if I might like to share my chicken salad sandwich with her.  By 4:35pm that afternoon, she was lying unresponsive on her side bleeding internally from a liver tumor.  It was devastating to say the least.  But just a few months ago, my elderly kitty began to fail…first by millimeters, then by centimeters,and then by inches.  We knew what we had to do, but in the absence of a clear sign that she was unhappy, we were in agony until the day we decided to let gentle hands set her free.

So maybe there’s never an easy way to say goodbye.  Maybe all we can do is try to enjoy them and love them consciously every day they’re here with us.

They just don’t live long enough.

Rest in peace, Deucie.

Lynn Anne Evans, DVM

Barrington Veterinary Clinic