Am I the only one who can't fucking breathe right now.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

81. It's not fair that our furbabies live such short lives

We’ve been through this too many times. The worst was Duncan, whom I rescued from a family whose son was apparently a drug dealer and figured he’d breed dogs on the side. He was shot in a drug deal and his folks had to take in his kids but didn’t want the dogs.

Poor little guy must’ve been nearby when it happened because fireworks and gunfire sent him into panic mode for hours. He’d been shut out in a lanai for three months and was a pathetic little guy (and out in the Florida dampness, he had at least three kinds of worms to get rid of…)

Once we got him, he was the sweetest, most loving dog ever. He even smiled in his sleep. We had him for over 16 years, when his vision started going bad (my Maine coon began walking him around the house to guide him to his food dish), he didn’t hear well, and one day, he started losing control of his hind legs. He spent six months pretty much in hospice-type care, wearing diapers and finally just hanging out in a nest near one of us until he finally gave up.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, we later adopted a beautiful orange tabby who six months later started losing control of *his* hind legs. ER vet diagnosed him with FIP (feline infectious peritonitis)—incurable. We did the same diaper and hand-holding routine for Hamish for his last three months.

I wouldn’t give up those experiences, though, no matter how painful, because they brought so much love into our lives.

I also have four parrots—two Orange wing Amazons and two African greys—and they’ll present the opposite problem because parrots live perhaps 80-100 years and we’ll have to think of someone worthy of taking them when the time comes.

dem, it’s a shitty deal to suffer such a loss, but give it time and let another one into your life. It’s a good way to channel the love for the one you lost into making a better life for another one who needs you.

Meanwhile, maybe Duncan will be on the welcoming committee over the rainbow bridge.