Ole' Yeller Revisited

So I called my Dad for his birthday yesterday. For those of you who don't know, my parents are good ole down to earth country folk, living on the same small farm that I grew up on. Anyhow, going through our regular touchpoints when it comes to phone conversations between us two, we got on the subject of the farm animals. I think this was somewhere in between the weather and the goings on within the community. We got on the subjest of my longtime dog Chase. Chase is a black lab, husky,and rumored wolf mix that I picked out when I was still in grade school who now is a hard of hearing and seeing, arthitic old gal. So far she'd been getting along just fine, even with her ailments and had even been granted permission to become and inside outside farm dog. This is almost unheard of on the farm. But, I was told that she had stopped eating and was very very shaky when walking. I did my usual, "Oh well she's a good ole girl who's time is ticking down. Got to expect her to go one of these days." pretty much the standard response whenever the subject comes up. I know it's coming but I don't want to talk about it.

This morning I got an email from my Mom, saying that she was taking Chase to the vet, cause she looked like she had took a turn for the worst overnight. She told me that although we had an agreement that if Chase ever had to be put down, she would let me hurry up and make the 2+ hr trip up so that I could be the one to take her in, but me with my only mode of transportaion these days being my own two feet and a bicycle didn't fair likely. Things didn't sound good coming from my Mom's end as she pretty much told me to expect for my childhood friend to venture off to the great beyond this afternoon. Tears ensued and I had been sitting here at work all day whiping my eyes and sniffing snot up my nose. My world felt a little lonlier.

Well, about an hour ago, I got another email from my Mom with the subject line of "Good News". "Good News?" thinks me, "What, was it college intern day and they got to put her down for free?" Turns out the vet thought she looked really good for a dog her age and didn't want to put her to sleep. Of all things he tried acupuncture to help coax her appetite back and to relieve some of the arthitis in her hind legs. He also gave her a months worth of pain pills to try and see if that would help too. I guess while my Mom was writing to me, she started eating a bowl of food that was set out for her, her first in 5 days.

So, good news for me. Get to look forward to seeing my beloved pet at least once more the next time I get up there, which will be soon now. Only thing that sucks is I got a taste of what's to come when the time really arrives. But like usual, I'll just say, "Oh well she's a good ole girl who's time is ticking down. Got to expect her to go one of these days."