Does it Ever Get Easy?
We have become better at helping our pets live. We have not become equally good at letting them go. As a veterinary internist for more than thirty-five years, I’ve helped thousands of people make one of the hardest decisions they’ll ever face: when to stop treating and let a beloved animal die. Surprisingly, that decision […]
Blaze for Days
“You have two choices,” the vet said. “You can either put him to sleep, or bring him tonight for emergency surgery, and he might not survive.” That was the day I brought him in for what I thought was a stomachache. I did not expect that diagnosis. We weren’t ready. I didn’t want him to go under the knife when he might not even survive it. Dying alone on a cold slab with a bunch of strangers. Blaze had spleen cancer, and other tumors in his body along with internal bleeding. The vet said he wasn’t really suffering. He was in
Heart Troubles: A Lamentation
George had stopped eating. Looking at him, it was hard to tell how thin he’d become. His white long-haired coat scattered with calico markings concealed how much weight he’d lost. Still, it was obvious he hadn’t touched the food in his dish. I was worried. George was born feral, an abandoned, but magnificent, kitten. I remember wearing him like a fur stole on my shoulder, when I begged my mother to let us adopt him. We already had two cats, an older Siamese and a formerly-stray black cat. Yet, after much pleading, my mom agreed to let us keep George. At
Saturday, Duboce Park
I noticed first his focus. It was as gentle and constant as the slow strokes of his hand, tousling the hair of his dog’s head. He was seated on the end of a bench, under a tree, there at the edge of Duboce Park on the first bright, warm and brilliant afternoon of the first day of San Francisco’s three-week October summer. The man was young. Immediately I knew… I don’t know how… that his dog was not. He stood, still in the over-warm day, uninterested in the activity around him, accepting… as I am sure he had for years of
