Why do we Cry More for Our Pets than we do for Humans?
My response to a fellow grieving Pet Owner
In too few of years, I was the one who ran the DNR to my mother to ask her to sign it. Bringing it back to the Care Center as quick as possible. My Father passed peacefully that night.
I laid on the floor with Billy Blue, spooning and hugging him tightly as he took his last breath. I stayed with him and told him how good of a dog he was and how much we loved him and will miss him forever.
In a room at the hospital, less than three years after losing my father, I was one of the voices of reason, talking to the lawyers, my siblings, the Doctors and Nurses. We need to let her join my dad. She did a day later.
Another Dog hug and crying on the floor. I stayed with Bear all the way through the process and long after. Again, telling her how special she was to us and will miss her forever, just like Billy Blue.
We gather around my Father-In-Law, for it was time for him to go. It wouldn't happen on it's own if things were left as is. Decision time once again, to say goodbye.
Buddy, who was my Father-In-Laws dog, a gift from us, was given back to us to watch over, because he became more than he could handle. He got something, we still don't know what, but it was evil.
With only half his life lived, this was the worst. We fought, we tried, but he was in pain and we once again, hugged him as he left us way too early.
Eventually, it was Davinci's time. He was a stray we brought back after our trip to release my parent's ashes in the Current River. You'll see his pic if you read my story on Tubing.
We were able to arrange for his last moments to be on his favorite couch, at home, with his Puppy friends and Family around him. I even got to help carry him to the Women's car as a final goodbye.
He made it 16 years that never would have happened, had we not brought him home. He had parvo, which untreated is fatal. Even treated, it's often fatal.
Lastly, for now, my Mother-in-law, also had to have the decision made, to allow her to leave us, vs. forcing her to stay alive as a shell of her former self.
Lori, as I wrote this story of losing 4 parents along with 4 dogs, I cried 4 times . . . and it wasn't for the humans. People who've never had pets, may see me as cruel and uncaring, and I don't care.
Do I miss Cathy’s and my parents. Of course I do! I always will and I'll never stop talking about them, thinking about them and sharing what they taught me.
But here's the difference. They could talk. They knew what was happening and understood why. My Father, in a moment of 100% clarity, stared me in the eyes and said, "I really screwed up, didn't I?"
He, along with my mother, drank themselves to death, both in their 60's. Sorry to anyone not liking this line, but I will not hide this fact, with hopes it could save even one life.
Our Dogs, our precious unconditional love giving gifts, never understood how we wanted them to live forever. Ok, 5 times! Fuck! That was rough.
They may have never understood that, but they knew they were loved up until the final seconds of their lives.
Just this last weekend, my Wife Cathy explained to me a comic strip she saw. A dog is at the gates and being asked, "How did you die?"
The dog replied, "I was hugged."
The Angel asks again, "No, I don't think you understand my question. What caused your death?"
Again, the dog replied, "I was hugged."
. . . and there’s number 6! I need more kleenix.
As often as I was either directly involved or partially involved in the above decisions, I don’t regret a single one of them. Although they all left us earlier than we wanted, it was time to not be selfish and allow them to go.
