If You've Ever Lost a Beloved Dog or Cat . . .

I just met a grieving young woman who had to put her 13-year-old dog to sleep 4 days earlier.  She felt lonely and guilty.

In the past 4 days I'm also sure at least one well-meaning person said, "Yo, get another one at the SCPA for $25."  Probably didn't help. 

Pets magically enrich our lives.

One example. Pheeny goes asleep on the corner of my desk every morning, wistfully watches me eat lunch, spastically rides along on errands, painfully endures me practicing the saxophone,  and groggily waits for me on the foot of the bed.   Every time I say something to her, she looks at me like, "Wow . . . that was the smartest thing I've ever heard."  And that's why we cherish dogs.

​On the other hand, on most days she still goes to the bathroom under the piano. 

​At least she didn't learn that from the kids.

You know . . . $25 at the SCPA won't come close to replacing the hole in this poor woman's life and the hole in her heart.  

Our friends are vets and they say most people try to extend the life of a painfully dying dog much longer than they should.  Dog-owners think they're doing it for the dog, but they do it more for themselves.  They keep their dog jacked up on burning  chemotherapy drugs, or they put them through horrible repeated surgeries so they don't have to feel the loneliness and guilt of letting their dog peacefully move on.

In 2007 we lost a treasured cat who slept on the bed, slept on my desk, and purred whenever we looked at her -- total positive feedback for a cat owner.  I was so smitten I took three daily allergy medicines so we could keep her.

She ignobly died of kidney failure hiding in an unfinished basement furnace room when I was away at a conference one weekend.  I still feel guilty and blue whenever someone mentions their wonderful cat connection. Or even whenever the city of that conference is mentioned. 

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Shortly after our front-yard memorial service for Kirby the cat, I ran across the cartoon below that tries to channel what one beloved pet is thinking on their last day with their beloved owner.  

​It's touching -- in a good way.  Even after rereading it 40+ times, I'm choked up and teary-eyed before I'm even half-way through it.

I sent this cartoon to the woman I met Sunday.  She replied that it had been a hard week, but this "made it a bit better."

If you have ever lost a beloved pet that you still miss, maybe the thought expressed here will make it "a bit better."

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