Saturday, May 14, 2011

The last 48 hours.....

.....have been tough.  We (me, Brian, Michael, my uncle and his wife) made the decision Thursday night to take my mother's 17 year old mixed breed dog and have her put to sleep on Friday.  Bitsy has been blind and pretty much deaf for most of the last 2+ years, but was still getting along well.  Her arthritis was getting worse, and there were some other issues I won't go into that led us to know we made the right decision.

It's just tough since Mom and Marion are in England.  I knew it was going to upset Mom, and we were really hoping that Bitsy would make it until they returned next Saturday, but we just didn't feel it would be fair to Bitsy to make her suffer any longer.  Marion broke the news to her when he got home from work yesterday afternoon, and of course she is very sad, but in her email to us she was very understanding and thankful for the wonderful treatment that Bitsy received in her absence.

Per my mother's wishes, Bitsy will be cremated.  Thankfully we had discussed all this before they left for England - I knew it would be most likely that Bitsy would pass while they were gone, and I wanted to know Mom's wishes for how she wanted her remains handled, so I made sure we had that discussion.

My aunt was gracious enough to take Bitsy for us yesterday morning.  I was planning on handling it myself in the afternoon, but as emotional a person that I am, I wanted someone to go with me and there was no one available.  Cynthia was only available in the morning, and said she wouldn't mind taking her by herself.  I am so appreciative of her for doing that for us!

Anyways, we are all grieving over a beautiful dog who's life has come to an end.  I know, nothing lives forever, and I absolutely know that we made the right decision.  I'm just sad to know she's gone.  She was such a sweet dog. 

RIP Bitsy  1994 - 5/13/2011
 

2 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about Bitsy. I know how much your Mom loved that dog. I think sometimes we get attached to our pets as if they are babies. We all cry when we lose one. Seventeen years is a long life for a dog but that doesn't make it any easier when we lose them. Pass my condolences to your Mom please.

    Dad

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