Another Goodbye.

We euthanized Pester yesterday, and that's pretty much where my headspace is today.

Five years and seven months ago, he was just another foster.  They handed him to The Pie R.N. because he was crazy diabetic, and we needed to get his insulin figured out.  In short time, he became blind... and sorta kinda unadoptable.  

Which meant we ended up with another long term "hospice" foster animal from the Humane Society of Charlotte.

Nobody expected him to live that long.  Twice a day insulin shots after morning and evening meals that had to happen in sorta the same windows of time each day.  Thyroid pills.  Eye drops, two kinds.. sometimes three?  A lot of effort to save two eyes that didn't do much more than fill a couple holes in his head.  Pretty sure there was another pill in there for something or other at some point.  Such a train wreck, but not in his opinion.

He managed to find his way down the stairs of the back deck at our old place multiple times a day... well except mebbe that one time he wandered off the deck and onto the lid of the recycling toter... and then I had to build a mini-guardrail at Pester-height to keep him from going airborne.

We were so stoked to move into our tiny home with only one step out the back door.  I wasn't going to have to risk breaking another toe carrying another blind dog outside.

This dog never acted his age.  He would wake up grabbing squeaky toys and make sure that everyone knew it was time to get up.  He'd bark at your feet the whole time you stirred his food, occasionally tossing his toy in the air or directly at you... I'm not sure he knew what he was aiming at.  He'd play in the backyard with whatever foster dog we threw into the mix, and would chase Boppit all over the yard... mebbe sometime running into things... but mostly not.

We almost euthanized him back in August when we found out that he now had cancer, but his quality of live was still there.  We canceled the appointment and ended up getting a few more months with him.  

The Pie said this is dog number seven (or eight?) that we've had to say goodbye to.  I wasn't able to be there for all of them.  I was able to be there for Pester, and you should know that he went across the bridge eating mouthfuls of ham.

Sadly, that might be the last long term hospice foster for the Humane Society of Charlotte.  It doesn't seem to be happening anymore.  Dogs like Sizemore, and Wally, and  Pester (actually Lester), and Shiloh, and Sally, and... I can't remember them all.

So, one dog for now, but I do look forward to bringing someone home when we're ready.  For now, I'll just stare at that empty space where Pester used to sleep and dump more affection on Boppit than he's probably prepared to handle.

Back to bikes soon enough.