Well, since we are waxing nostalgic, here is a note I wrote our vet. soon after the demise of our dog, Casey:
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Dan:
Just to share this with you. I wrote it shortly after leaving your office:
Today we had to put our Miniature American Eskimo, Casey, to sleep. It’s just a sad sad sad day.
In 1991 our shelty, Swayzie, ran out in the street and got run over right in front of our elementary school daughter. That was her sweet dog and she cried steady for weeks and couldn’t even talk about Swayzie for about a year. In October, 1993, two years later, I finally got my daughter to visit our local kennel. By then she had recovered pretty well from that traumatic event and she was ready to consider getting another pet. We fell in love with Casey; a love affair that never ended. We waited anxiously for a week and when nobody claimed him, this flea-infested beautiful dog was ours. We quickly got him healthy and a bond was born. Casey became an integral part of our family. It was estimated that Casey was almost 2 years old when we got him. So, we had him for 14 years. With Casey’s help our daughter’s happiness was restored and she learned to love again. Our daughter left years ago to pursue a professional career, but she has returned home often and she and Casey greeted each other with mutual joy.
about a year ago, our dog’s personality changed. He no longer wanted to be petted and paced and paced. He would get lost in the back yard and even in the house. He barked rarely. He had trouble walking and would cry in pain when we petted him. He was diagnosed with canine cognitive dysfunction, a form of Alzheimer’s Disease in dogs. There is some pretty good medication that works 75% of the time. Sadly, Casey was in the other 25%. It got to where we had to watch him all the time as he had trouble distinguishing between our carpet and the back yard, if you know what I mean. He also became almost totally deaf and blind.
Over the last few months, my wife and I have looked carefully at the life this once vibrant, intelligent, loving dog was leading. Today, we finally got the courage to say goodbye to an old friend. I knew it would be tough. I just didn’t realize how tough. But...it was time.
And now, something even tougher, I have to go call my daughter.
Mel
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