It is with great sadness that we have to report Chico has left us.
As you may know if you have read his profile on here he had been blind for a few years now and was also deaf, he had his own chair in our office which he spent the majority of his time in.
We had a code, he barked and we had to work out if it meant he wanted to go out to do his business, if he wanted a drink or if he was hungry, the latter was usually the case 🙂
On the day he passed we knew he was not quite right, the evening before he had been much quieter than normal and had slept most of the day, he did however eat some beef that evening, his favourite meat.
He did go out in the morning as was his usual routine, being blind we had created a safe area for him which he knew very well, what we did notice was him turning to the left very often as though he was being pushed despite no one being near him, within a few hours he had deteriorated and was becoming unresponsive, at this point we were ready to take him to the vet, as we were leaving he started to have a seizure, I have to say I have never seen a dog have a seizure and it was horrible, seeing him like that knowing there was nothing we could do leaves you with a sense of ‘littleness’, I was actually on the phone to the vet as this was happening who said do no more just get him here…
Within 15 minutes of getting to the vets we had to make the decision to let Chico go, in my heart I knew on the drive to the vets he was not well but I wasn’t prepared for this, I don’t actually know what I was expecting the vet to say, maybe Chico was just poorly and needed some meds and in a few days he would be fine!
Do I feel that making the decision to put Chico to sleep I was responsible for killing our pet ?
Yes, most definitely, despite knowing he would not get better and was probably suffering my guilt spilt over asking of myself if I had done enough for Chico during his short life!
In comparison to humans dogs just don’t live as long and it took an awful lot of understanding to be at ease with this, Chico was 15 years old, by all accounts a good age for his breed and he’d never had a major health issue, I guess we should be thankful for the time we were given.
Chico will always be remembered, he was our first dog and dad to our Bear, he has given us memories, they will be treasured.
