My dog is sick.
If you are not a pet owner then you have the ability to read that statement, acknowledge it and simply move on to the next one. Only those of you who are pet owners, and perhaps dog owners specifically, can truly understand the strange level of concern that statement creates. I’ll admit that having a dog can be a real pain sometimes. In some ways they are more difficult than children. At least you can take your infant with you when you have to go somewhere, not so with the new puppy. At least you can put your kid in a diaper before they’re house-broken, you just get to clean up the floor with that puppy in the house. But all of that care-taking and headache forms a very real bond between man and dog that really does raise that pet into something just below (sometimes above) child status in the house. The big brown eyes don’t help the situation. My wife will be the first to attest that I’ve always been a sucker for a pretty pair of brown eyes. Apparently they don’t have to be human!
Rainey was 6 years old when she came to live with us so we missed the puppy stage with her. Missing the puppy stage definitely affected our relationship. While it was very nice to not have to deal with the chewing, messes, and general disobedience issues, we also noticed that we just didn’t have the same level of love for Rainey as we did with our previous dog which we’d had since she was a pup. The connection just wasn’t there for quite a while and she didn’t have all of that puppy-cuteness and personality to fall back on.
5 years later and I’m surprised at how much her illness has affected me. It turns out I really do care for that dog and hate to see her suffer. I not only hate the thought of having to tell the kids that we had to put Rainey down, but I really just hate that thought on its own. I find myself dealing with the eventuality that Rainey won’t be around anymore and wonder when I’ll have to go through similar feelings about the people that I love.
Rainey has Old Dog Vestibular Disease and while it’s not life threatening it’s obviously causing her some discomfort and confusion. It’s almost like she’s had a stroke. She can’t really walk all that well, won’t eat much and is visibly frightened at times. The vet says that this is very common in dogs, the cause is unknown and the symptoms can last for up to a week at which point they will either go away...or not. If not then we honestly have to consider making a ‘quality of life’ decision for Rainey. I don’t want to have to make that decision for anyone, let alone my dog.