Taking a piece of me with them...... (Pet Bereavement)

Member Name: triplecthegame

Product:	Pet Bereavement
Date:	12/02/02 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Memories

Disadvantages: Saying Goodbye

I promised myself that I’d never write an emotional opinion again, I mean Bullying, Cancer and Asthma – each time I ended up crying after writing them, but here I am again, so apologies if it doesn’t come out right.

As some of you know I’ve always had pets, but more importantly theres always been a dog living in this house – in fact as I type this theres a Yorkshire Terrier sat on my knee right now. Personally I know that I could never let her go, but one day well I know I have to and I also know that I’ll be inconsolable – how? Well I’ve been there twice before.

This opinion is probably not going to be like most of my others, it may not include that much information to help you ‘Make A Better Decision’, but I feel I need to write it – and more important its another one of those with a dedication – this one goes to Becky and Pippa.

* Pippas Story *

Pippa was the first pet I can ever properly remember, a tiny but loyal Yorkshire terrier Dad had bought for my mother in 1984 to help her through the loss of Peppa – Pippa was originally a working dog bringing back the birds that were shot down in hunts.

It didn’t take long for Pippa to pick up a nick-name of ‘Pudding’ and more importantly become a part of the family. Whenever one of us were feeling down – Pudding was there, Whenever one of us were ill – Pudding was there and generally she was always there for all of us. I still remember today the ritual she seemed to have of growling at me when I came home from Work/College/School and I always had to pick her up there and then or she’d go off in a huff.

But that wasn’t her only habit – she seemed to instinctively know when Mum was due home from work and started ‘snuffling’ at the door when she was about to come home, but most importantly in her loyalty was that whenever she thoug
ht either the family or our home were in trouble she’d forget her size and always be prepared to fight to the end to protect us. The best example I can give of this is with Next Door’s Rottweiller decided it was a good idea to jump over the fence and have a barking session – Pudding teamed up with Becky (more on her later) to catch the Rottweiller in a ‘pincer movement – one either side and they out-barked the intruder in seconds.

As the years flowed by Pudding became a permanent fixture in our home, but as age started to take its toll on her she started to slow down a bit, she wanted carrying up stairs – when she was taken out for a walk she never lasted as long as she used to but she was still the same dog and still as loyal and loved as ever.

But with her being an older dog she soon became a regular visitor to our Vets, and on more than one occasion was taken in for surgery (A little tip here for first-time dog owners – if you have to leave your dog at the Vets find something that you’re not too bothered in – an old sweater say, and take that in with you – it has your scent on it and makes the experience a little less traumatic for your pet). Whenever she was in for surgery I was always useless to anyone – it was as if it was a blood member of my family was in for surgery – that’s how important she was to me.

It was a fateful Wednesday night in December of 1996 – Dad had been to his local Pub and decided to bring in Curry Sauce and Chips from the local Chinese Takeaway – whenever we did that there was always a routine – Becky (our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) always sat with me, Liesha and Kimmi (our 2 Old English Sheepdogs) always sat with Dad and Pudding always sat with Mum. For some reason that night Pudding ended up sitting in-between Liesha and Kimmi, Dad passed Pudding a chip and she dropped it – Kimmi then decided that Puddi
ng obviously didn’t want it and went for it, Pudding went for it as well and I’m suspecting you can guess what happened, sadly Kimmi decided to attack Pudding for the chip but afterwards Pudding seemed OK and just a little shook up about it all.

The next morning I woke to find that Mum was nearly in tears as Pudding had taken a turn for the worse over-night – she never was the most active of dogs but she was severely lethargic even for her. That minute we decided to have a word with the Vets on the phone and they advised we bring her straight in, knowing what I was like when any of our pets were ill I rang in sick at work and explained that we had to take the dog to the vets.

Suffice to say the Vet found that there was something wrong with her – she’d suffered a perforated lung because of the attack and was given a 20-80 chance of survival on it all. Of Course he wanted to keep her in for observation, and we agreed straight away. On arriving home I’d had a call from my College Tutor (Work was more a placement for my NVQ) saying that my placement had sacked me and I was to come into College for a disciplinary hearing at College – apart from swearing at my tutor a lot I don’t remember any of the phone-call.

After that day we were on 2 phone-calls to the Vets a day checking on Puddings health – and on the Saturday morning call we were told that she was fit enough to be sent home on a strong course of anti-biotics. Over that weekend Pudding slowly started to be back to her own self – in fact on the Sunday it was as if the attack had never happened. But the Monday morning came and she dropped quickly – un-willing to eat anything, only wanting to sleep in somebodys arms and generally a shell of the dog she was – it was upsetting to see her like this and looking back I believe we all knew that this was the last time she’d be home but nobody wanted to believe it. Of c
ourse we called the Vets again and he asked that we bring her in again, not long after the phone-call I swear to this day that we lost her in my Mothers arms but somehow brought her round again, if I knew now what was going to happen afterwards I’d have asked that we let her go there and then.

Once again she was kept in for observation by the Vets but this time it wouldn’t be long – the next morning on the phone-call the Vet advised that we ‘let her go’. On hearing that news I just sunk to the ground, Physically, Mentally and Emotionally – the past few days had really taken it out on me, and my Mother could see it – she wouldn’t let me go with her to say goodbye but promised to tell Pudding that I was thinking of her and say goodbye for me. For days weeks and even months afterwards I was inconsolable – and even to this day I remember Pudding every day, and always will.

The hardest part of it all is still the fact that there are traces of her here – scratches on the door from when she used to attack it, an expectation that when you open the door she’ll be there, and generally an unfillable hole where she was. Much as when we lose a loved one it does get easier with time – I’m not denying that I’m in tears as I type this – but as time moved on it did seem a little less upsetting to walk in and not see her there ready to growl at me – plus we’ll always have pictures and videos taken of her to remember her by.

We’d always planned…… well hoped that when she started to go into old age we’d just wake one morning to find her peacefully gone in her sleep – now we know different, according to the Vets that hardly ever happens – giving us a percentage of about 10% of dogs will die at home from Natural Causes, so fate wasn’t with us on that side.

Several months after we lost Pudding we ended up getti
ng the Yorkshire Terrier I have sat on my lap right now and immediately christened her as Pudding – remembering that that was only Pippas nick-name. One thing I know now is that Pudding is no replacement for ‘The Original Pudding’ – don’t get me wrong, I still love her just as much – but when losing a pet I feel that buying another one to replace them will only make it worse as you go into it expecting an exact replica of the one you lost – every dog is unique and you’ll never find one with the qualities of the pet you lost – but you will find a new friend.

* Beckys Story *

Becky was bought as a ‘play-mate’ for Pudding back in 1987 – she was a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and to be honest when we went to see her alarm-bells should have rang – she was the last one left – locked in a cold kitchen and we weren’t allowed to see her parents – but we’d already fallen in love with her and couldn’t wait to get her home. To say she enamoured herself to us instantly would be an under-statement – right from being sick on a family friend who’d agreed to come view her with us, we could tell that she’d fit in no worries.

And fit in she did – to say she was the opposite of Pudding was an understatement – she was more independent. But she still had her own qualities – a little more lively than Pudding, but always simply Becky.

When theres more than one dog in a family, it always seems that everyone has ‘their own dog’ – Becky was mine – if I had a Secret Becky knew it, if I was ever upset Becky recognized it and sat on my lap listening intently to my inane ramblings, that was just the dog she was. I don’t believe that I could have gotten through my cancer scares as well as I did if it wasn’t for Becky being around – she always seemed to know what to do to make
you feel better.

But again as with Pudding old age did begin to set in and she became a regular visitor to the Vets eventually going back every 3 weeks for an injection and a course of tablets and medicine to help her with Heart disease.

Her passing is going to be harder for me to write about than Puddings mainly because I wasn’t there at all when it happened – what I know is from what people have told me and what little bit I knew already.

As I stated in my last opinion late in October of last year I started working for Argos, mainly in their warehouse so of course a sturdy footwear was required. Approximately 2 weeks after starting work there I was halfway to work when I realised I was wearing my Basketball Boots – which aren’t ideal for climbing stepladders as you’d well expect. I ran back home and changed into my normal work-shoes and could visibly tell that it had thrown the dogs off balance a little bit – as they hadn’t expected me for hours. To this day I say that it was fate but for some reason I took the time out to walk over to Becky, kiss her on the forehead and say goodbye – I’m glad I did now.

On returning home that night Mum was stood in the kitchen and I could tell that she was close to tears, she asked me to sit down as she had something to tell me, looking around the house I already knew what she was going to say – Becky wasn’t anywhere to be seen and most of her things were in her basket in the corner. I just replied to Mums request that I sit down with the words ‘shes gone hasn’t she?’ and Mum nodded. I’d expected this day to come for a while but it didn’t stop me collapsing to the floor again in floods of tears. Then Mum asked the question I never expected ‘Do you want to know how?’ – I answered no but knew there and then that something else had happened and as much as I didn’t want to
I started noticing the clues – the one major one being that Kimmi the Old English that had attacked Pudding on that night, was sitting quiet and sheepish in the corner, looking up at my mother I just said ‘its happened again hasn’t it?’ and once again Mum nodded.

Apparently it wasn’t long after I’d left for work that it had happened and this time had all been over Becky partaking in her favourite past-time of picking slippers up and putting them in her basket, for some reason Kimmi had just charged at her and this time ‘it’ had been instant, in fact Mum had already buried Becky in the backyard instead of taking her to the Vets.

This one hurts me more than anything ever could – but I know that the spirit of Becky at least will always be with me – and I know that although I wasn’t with her when she went as I’d hoped that I’d have been in her mind.

Right, that’s the stories of my 2 best friends ever on the world – better than I could ever find in any humans, One thing I will say in advice to anyone who loses a pet – don’t try and forget them – it’ll only make it worse – remember them, cherish the memories you have with them, and remember the times you had together – it isn’t easy but you’ll find that its better doing it that way.

I promised myself I wouldn’t cry on writing this – I’ve broken my promise on many occasions so will leave it at this, all that up there is dedicated to the memory of Becky and Pippa – the 2 best friends I’ll ever have.

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