Koko...I Miss You!

So just to give readers a chance to leave the page this post is probably going to be depressing and possibly disturbing. Disturbing mostly to animal lovers. I give you my permission to turn away and find something happier to read.

Today we took Koko, a 14 year old shar-pei to the veterinarian to be euthanized. She has been with us for about 11 1/2 years. She was the funniest thing you ever saw with wrinkles and and squishy smoochie face. She loved to run around the back yard and bark at the cars going by. I always felt safe while walking with her, she took on a pair of ginormous rotties once. She wasn't always the most obedient but she wasn't bad. She just wanted to do what she wanted to do. Catlike I guess. But she was so sweet.

In the last year she has been getting senile and sometimes confused. Her health stayed good but in the last couple months was deteriorating. She started eating less and losing weight. When we took her to the vet they couldn't find anything wrong. She just declined more and more. She didn't eat for about a week. So we made the decision to put her out of pain and let her go.

Here comes the more disgusting part.

I had to lift her frail body into and out of the car. She walked into the exam room and we got her to lay on the blanket spread out on the floor. Over the last few months she had lost about 15 pounds and looked slightly skeletal. I cried just looking at her.

The vet came in and explained what was supposed to happen but didn't. She tried both front legs but Koko's blood pressure was so low that the injection wouldn't go in. An assistant was brought in and they tried one back leg. All through this Becca and I were holding her and trying to let her know it would be ok. She just kept struggling. She never liked having her feet handled. Finally the last leg was tried. The needle was yet again forced under her skin and into her vein. She cried and cried the whole time the needle was in.

Her heart stopped within 30 seconds.

We sat there surrounding our beloved pet sobbing. We tried to find and give solace at the same time without success. There were barely any spasms after she passed. Less than I thought actually. Only her lip twitched in memory of life. Her body cooled quickly, and color left her lips.

I think I will need to purge this from my mind for a while before I can think about it without crying.

I just wish she hadn't died crying. The whole point of this was to end her life before it got any worse.


Goodbye Koko, Rest in Peace and give 'em Hell in Heaven. I'll miss you smoochie face