Farewell to an amazing dog

We’ve always had dogs growing up, and although it’s great to have them, sadly, they don’t live that long. Every eight to ten years, we have to say farewell to an amazing dog and that’s what we did this past weekend.

Vicky

My parents go a miniature border collie in 2013 and we called her Vicky. It’s kind of weird that we called her that because just a few months before that our other miniature border collie died because of complications of an operation.

So, yeah, it was weird, but we were heartbroken when she died, so we replaced her with a look-alike.

They were not alike in terms of personalities, but all dogs have their unique personalities.

We all loved her, and she loved all of us, but my dad was Vicky’s favourite and she was his shadow. My brother and dad also played cricket with her every afternoon (she’d catch the ball) and that’s how they all bonded. (They always play with a tennis ball, by the way.)

She got sick

Last year, my parents noticed Vicky was losing weight, didn’t want to eat, and was drinking a lot of water. She also had a few accidents in the house, so they took her to the vet.

My dad has diabetes and recognised these symptoms, so he said they should take her blood sugar. He was right on the money. Her blood sugar was too high to be measured.

Since they knew what was wrong, they could make the necessary adjustments. They put Vicky on a special diet and injected her with insulin three times a day, and obviously also monitored her blood sugar levels. For a while, it went a lot better, and she put on some weight again.

However, this last month she had been deteriorating. She didn’t want to eat and her blood sugar levels were too high. What’s worse is that she became practically blind. She couldn’t catch the ball anymore and she was walking into things.

She was suffering, and it broke our hearts.

The goodbye

I said goodbye to Vicky when I was in South Africa last year because I knew I wouldn’t see her again.

My dad made the decision to put her down. It was the humane thing to do. They held her as she drifted off to sleep, and I’m sure they shed a few tears.

She was a wonderful dog.

Lastly

Have you ever had to say goodbye to a pet?

Michelle

P.S. If you’d like to contact me, feel free to comment below, send an email to thatmichelleperson@gmail.com, or follow me on Twitter @M_ClutterBox.

Rest in peace, you little weirdo. I love you so much.