Good night, Sweetie Pie
Last week on Thursday at 5:10 PM, Sweetie Pie went to Heaven. I am not going to debate whether dogs go to heaven or not; my God, who knows when a sparrow falls, who searches for the lost sheep both literally and figuratively, and who created all beings (including ticks - why?) on the earth, certainly welcomes dogs to his Home.
I do, however, invite your views on when and how you decide it is time to help your beloved pet on her way to her final Home. One author I read let her dog suffer in pain for a year because he would still eat - her criteria was as long as he can eat, he will live. I was horrified. What made Sweetie's passing difficult for me was she still wagged her tail when she saw me and ate with gusto - she was a dog who could lick the taste and smell right out of any dog bowl after eating whatever was left :). Her breathing due to her congestive heart failure resulting from years of neglect and an almost overwhelming case of PREVENTABLE heart worms incapacitated her to be able to sleep on my lap. She had difficulty resting at all. The last 4 days of her life, she was taking 120 mg of Lasix to relieve the fluid pressure on her lungs. Her quality of life was so compromised, I knew it was time - and yet, as I write this almost a week later, I get teary missing her as these words conjure memories of a little lost dog in the Jefferson County Animal Control, pulled by a group of do-gooders and brought my way, then financed by other do-gooders via Fundable.com for her treatment. Her name was Sweetie Pie for a reason.
I want to encourage those of you with aging dogs, dogs whose lives are truly compromised or those on the brink - to carefully review what is best for your dog with your vet, with me, with others who can help you take that final step in releasing her to her Heavenly Home. Please, don't take her to a shelter away from those she loves because it is too difficult for you - I and others are ready to help you in this time. This is the time you need to suck it up and do what needs to be done. I have heard and read to keep 3 things your dog values in mind; when those are no longer happening, then it is time. Sweetie could no longer enjoy her life besides eating - and her last two days, she ate as much as she wanted :).
Sweet dreams, Sweetie Pie! I will see you, Louie, Victor, Elvis, Oliver, Emma, and everyone else when we are all Home.
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