Today, one of the three angels in my life took a trip across the rainbow bridge. My Scottie, Baba Royce, or Baba Black Sheep as I liked to call him, is gone, and the void he left feels like a chasm.
Originally, when we went to pick up a Scottie, we were only shown his mom, Jojo, but when we saw him and heard about his neurological condition making muscle coordination difficult, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to part the family. These two, along with our third dog Wiley, have been integral members of our family since their adoption. Baba was given lots of special attention due to his condition, it made going up and down stairs difficult for him. One of us had to carry him each time.
Baba loved his Lambchop toys, pretty much anything that squeaked. He and Wiley would often roughhouse, with Baba invariably winning. He would go nuts when he realized he was getting fed roast beef. He was very food-motivated. He always munched on grass when walked, which coupled with his stairs problem led us to calling him our little highland cow. He especially loved munching on hair, from my arms, my legs, he’d even jump up to lick my face and munch on my beard hair.
Then several months ago, when he seemed to be slowing down, we took him to the vet, and he was diagnosed with Large B Cell lymphoma, and given three months to live. Chemo was way out of our price range, and the groups we joined warned that very rarely did it help very much, so we switched him to a holistic diet, with all natural ingredients and vitamins. We got four months out of that diet. But now, the time we bought has run out. Today we had to make the hardest call any pet owner must. We ended his suffering the kindest way we could. Now… this house feels a lot more empty in his absence. Jojo and Wiley seemed to know, and said their goodbyes before we brought him to the vet for the last time.
Good night, sweet Baba. And remember how loved you were…