To Honor Our Senior Dogs

“Blessed is the person who has earned the love of an old dog.”
-- Sydney Jeanne Seward

I received a call from my Vet the other day. They needed our help. Could we, again, find a home for an abandoned dog? Could we help “rescue” yet another one? Please. (Yes. We will. We must. That’s why they call us.) Someone had brought in an “older” dog (under the pretense of finding out why she wasn’t feeling well) and then promptly abandoned her. Just left her there. Alone. Frightened. Confused. And old. Of course, how silly of me... they had no use for her anymore. She was old. And now she required too much care to be bothered with.

“Folks will know how large your soul is by the way you treat a dog.”
-- Charles F. Doran

If that is true, then the creatures (I will not use the words people or human to describe them) responsible for this act of abuse have NO soul at all. Can you imagine what this poor, helpless dog’s last days on earth, were like? Yes, that is what I said... last days on earth. You see, try as we might, we could not help her. It had already been taken out of our hands. So I cried yet again for another dog for whom I was too late. Another victim whose name I never knew. And now she is gone. Because the creatures entrusted with her life didn’t really care about her at all. And their total lack of caring, or sense of responsibility, was apparently evident for most of this dog’s existence (“life” would be a poor choice of words here).

The reason we could not save her was because her condition had been allowed to deteriorate to an unrecoverable state. Not only was she suffering with a prolapsed uterus, of such severity (fourth degree) that it was literally “hanging out”, but she also had heartworm. A very advanced stage of heartworm. The prolapsed uterus indicates an extremely difficult labor and delivery. And, as unimaginable as it might sound, a total lack of any veterinary care whatsoever. The heartworm is beyond inexcusable. In any dog. The remedy and preventative medication is so readily available and inexpensive, there is just no acceptable excuse. Trust me, you do not want me to describe in graphic detail what heartworm is, what happens during the infestation or what the dog endures. But make no mistake, the sequence is quite traumatic. The dog's quality of life diminishes drastically... a worsening cough, fainting from exertion, easily tiring, being weak and listless, weight loss, difficulty breathing, coughing up blood... all leading up to congestive heart failure and eventually death. Not pretty. Absolutely and totally avoidable. Inexcusable. Soulless behavior.

“To lose a dog's trust is to fail the soul.”
-- Joseph Duemer, A Dog's Book of Truths

So what do you think this poor dog’s last days were really like? You probably don’t want to go there. It still haunts me. Remember, we are talking about an animal who thinks and feels and loves and needs. How would you feel if your “family” took you to the hospital and then just left you there? What would be going through your mind as you began to realize that they weren’t coming back for you? Just how frightened and lonely and confused might you be once the true nature of your situation began to sink in to your consciousness? Now imagine that you don’t have abstract reasoning or the power of higher thinking. All you are left with is your fear and loneliness and confusion. Right up until they put the needle into your arm. Goodbye. Good riddance. The end. Your last thoughts: where am I... where is my family... what is happening... why... please help me!

“We can judge the heart of man by his treatment of animals.”
-- Immanuel Kant

Dogs are one of the most special and precious creatures on this great earth. They posses godly attributes in every sense and definition of their being. You need only look into their eyes to understand this simple truth. Yet that dog was treated as nothing more than property. Something they owned. Something to be discarded when they no longer had any use for it. Is that what God had intended? Is that what “Dominion over the earth” means? Has the self-centered nature of our "disposable society" sank so low that even living, breathing animals are no longer safe from it? I have said it before, and it bears saying again, “Animals are entitled to our protection simply by their existence”. God has entrusted their care and well-being to us. I believe He has made a grave error in judgment.