My Andy Is Gone

by Richard Lawson
(Denver, Colorado)

My dog Andy was in his 14th year, knowing of course that there wasn't much more then a couple of years to share with my boy. He had a seizure Sunday morning about 3:00 a.m. We rushed him to a 24 hour vet hospital and they were able to calm him and get the seizure stopped. Then they started running tests.

I got a phone call from the doctor telling me that everything looked fine and his blood work could've been that of a two year old dog but they were going to do x-rays a little later that morning. We went back in to see him at noon and sat down with the vet and listened in disbelief as she told me that they had found two or three spots of cancer on his lungs. They felt that it had probably spread to his brain and that's what was causing the seizures.

The vet said that all they could do was keep him sedated and on anti-seizure meds but it probably wasn't a good idea to leave him by himself. The vet suggested the alternative was to have him put to sleep. I've never had to make a harder decision in my life, but we were lead to a "comfort room" where I got to thank him for being my buddy for the last 14 years and told him I love him, held him and kissed him goodbye.

How can it be so hard to lose a dog (anything that you love). I pray that he's gone over the rainbow bridge and that I'll get to see him again some day.

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