4. The Passing of a Pet - letter to family & friends

Dear Family and Friends,
It’s with great sadness that I tell you that today (Saturday 6/13/09) Mollie entered doggie heaven (or the long sleep as we also call it).

It all started when I (Larry) got up this morning, and found out that Mollie was having the problem again of not being able to get her hind-quarters up off the floor. It had been four weeks since her cancer surgery, and we had hoped we would have had longer with her. Still, we are very thankful to God for the time we had with her after her major operation. And for those four weeks, after the initial recovery, she was the old Mollie, with the same sparkle in her eyes, and the same bounce in her walk.

This time we knew what the problem was – her blood pressure had dropped drastically, apparently from internal bleeding. This morning the period of not being able to stand lasted 2 hours, compared to 45 minutes the other times it had happened. It was obvious that she was in a lot of misery.

So we made the arrangements at the vet, and like we did with Patchy (three years earlier), the doctor gave her the first shot to make her sleep, and we stayed with her and told her what a good girl she was and gave and got lots of goodbye kisses and pats. But where Patchy stayed awake about 10 minutes after the shot, Mollie fell asleep after about three minutes. The doctor came in to give her the second final shot, and at that point we left, leaving her there peacefully sleeping. Her last thoughts were how much she loved her family, and how much we loved her.

She had 15 wonderful and happy years, a long life, and only about two bad weeks – and that is a deal that I’d take any day!

Thanks for the prayers and concern, and yes, at some point in the future, perhaps a month or two we’ll get another dog. But as there will never be another Patchy, there will never be another Mollie.

Love from us both,
with sad hearts,
Larry (Dad, Grandpa, & Uncle), and Jeannine (GranJeannine, Sister, & Aunt)

A joyful P.S. : On 4/18/10, Jeannine and I went to pick up Sugar, our new adopted rescue dog, a senior golden retreiver, who is now the delight of our hearts. (added Jan 4, 2011)
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