Death Is Among Us

 For the last several weeks, the health of our dog, Daisy, has deteriorated so much that she looks terrible. She is a Chihuahua-Dachsund mix, so imagine a stretched out long-wise chihuahua. Daisy is approximately fifteen years old, and is truly at the 'old age' of her a lifespan. For the last week, we have not been able to get her to eat much of anything, and have tried variations of soft dog foods with not much success. Thus, her weight has severely dropped, and one can see her bones protruding from her skin now. This morning, I rose from bed to find her almost directly under my feet, still as could be. As I watched for a moment, trying to process if she was dead, I noticed she still yet took breath, though I fear it may not last through the day.

I say through the day, but who truly knows. Last Monday I was talking to the Youngest, about how I was not sure how much longer Daisy would last, and he had mentioned he expected maybe three more days. Note that was last week. He seems pretty well prepared for her passing away. I don't know if I could say the same for the Wife - she tends to be so full of empathy most times. Personally, I didn't care for the dog. I never wanted her, and she was brought home against my advice. I have already stated we should not get another dog after Daisy passes. Cats at least can 'take care of themselves' where dogs can't, and I would like the ability to do overnight trips without having to worry about the dog's care.

Sigh.

We have not bothered with having a veterinarian look at her. Both of us are fairly sure it is just simply old age for her. Our previous dog of seventeen years, was the same breed, and her end was very similar. Besides, who needs to rack up those kind of costs, am I right? Body disposal is now my worry. I would rather just put it in a garbage bag for collection (not allowed) because I don't want to pay the money to have to transport it somewhere and pay for the animal disposal. But will probably end up in the backyard, digging a hole (as we did for the cat, Nimbus, that passed some time ago). Not supposed to do that within the city either, but oh well.

Makes me think back to watching my Dad the year prior to him passing away. No, he didn't 'waste away' like some, but one could see parts of him going. I always considered him a very intelligent person, and as his speech became harder to interpret due to the cancer making him say wrong words/phrases.... just one of the ways. There were the physical ones - becoming paralyzed on the right arm/leg, excessive weight gain due to meds, so many other things.

Sigh.

I'm getting maudlin, and I haven't even been drinking. Onto other things for now....

PeacE