Today’s strip is a rerun. I apologize for that, but I’m just not up to drawing anything for today. The following is going to be a lot of heart-on-the-sleeve stuff, so I won’t be offended if you stop reading here.
Yesterday (Thursday) I took my dog, Buddy (the inspiration for T-Bone) to the vet. He’d been feeling bad on and off for awhile. He had been lying still for the previous 24 hours, and Thursday morning he vomited and defecated on the floor. (And he NEVER shit on the floor. If we were gone for a while, he’d wait patiently until we got back. Sometimes he go right to the back door as soon as we got home, but he wouldn’t “go” inside.) I also noticed that his belly seemed to be getting a little distended, so I took a day off to take him to the vet.
So, at the vet, they took some x-rays and found that he had fluid in his abdomen. The vet “tapped” his belly (withdrew fluid with a syringe) to see what kind of fluid was building up. After she withdrew the needle, she showed me the syringe.
It was filled with blood.
The vet told me Buddy’s condition had gone from “serious” to “critical” and told me to take him to an animal hospital that could do surgery if needed.
So I loaded Buddy into my truck, drove to the hospital, and was told that most likely the bleeding was caused by a tumor. They could operate, but if it WAS a tumor, he probably had only 3 months left. And that’s with chemotherapy.
So, I went to talk to my wife (who works at a hospital not too far from the animal hospital) and we made the decision to put Buddy to sleep. (That’s the old fashioned way of putting it. Nowadays, they usually say “putting him down”)
I’m just not able to do a strip today, what with the crying and heavy drinking, so I’m putting up a repeat strip that most reminds me of Buddy. He was blind the last few years of his life, and had become an indoor dog, but before that, he would kill pretty much any critter that made the mistake of wandering into our back yard. I’m not sure just how many times this happened because I stopped counting at 20.
Buddy was a loyal, loving dog and I’m going to miss him very, very much…
So sorry for your loss. They are members of the family and when you have to put them down it’s hard. I found myself praying a lot of times that they’d just pass in their sleep, but loyal to the end they stay strong for you even when they are weak. Just remember the good times you had with Buddy and I hope that gives you comfort as you go through this time of grief. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family as you adjust to not having him around.
Thank you, Todd. The toughest part right now is adjusting to Buddy not being in the house. He had a habit of following me EVERYWHERE. If I went to the bedroom, he’d follow me there (and he’d sleep there with us). If I went to the den to draw, he’d come in and lay down behind me. If I was on the computer, he’d stick his head under the desk beside me. I’d long ago gotten use to looking around when I’d stand up, to be sure I wasn’t about to trip over him or something. Today was a really tough day for me and my wife, but we’ve gotten through it.