what a sh*tty day!

well, that's not exactly true - today was sunny and beautiful, almost 80 degrees and no wind but as my husband put it "we had to execute a member of our family today". our dog had to be put to sleep this evening. lately she has not been eating, had a hacking cough and a very hard time getting up on her hind legs, but this weekend she started having a hard time breathing and i knew something was seriously wrong! we called the vet this morning and they told us to bring her in and they could check her out. they called back and told me that she had so much fluid in her lungs that they couldn't tell for sure if she had tumors (although they suspect she did), her heart was enlarged, her white count was double what it should have been and the arthritis in her spine and hips was horrible! i had no idea she was in so much pain!! first i told my little one that our dog, kitty (yes, our dog's name is kitty), was very sick and that she was going to die. she cried and was very sweet and told me "i'm gonna keep my kitty-dog" and "i'm gonna hug her really tight". then i picked up the kindergartner from school and told her that we had to go to the vet to say goodbye to our dog. she took it really well when i first told her and didn't even cry. in fact, she told me "i cried when my fish died so i'm trying to make myself cry because i love kitty more than my fish". i told her not to force herself to cry because it will come when she's ready - and boy, did it! my little one didn't understand that this was the end - she told our dog "bye kitty. i'll see you when you're all better". even though she had a hard time getting up and walking, kitty kept trying to come out the door with us. that was the hardest part - to leave her when she was looking at us and wanting to go with all of us (her family). to some people they may say she is "just a dog", but she was a member of this family! she was 13 1/2 years old - that's older than any of my kids and longer than i have been married! there is hardly anyone else on this earth that i have seen on a daily basis for that long! with a fish, you say a few words and then "flush", but it's so much harder with our kitty-dog! we have been through so much with her and she was a great dog who will be greatly missed!!
R.I.P. Kitty 1995-2009