Peppy Pets
Sept. 15, 03

That Very Sad Day when we had to put my Dog Muffin to Sleep
Jalyssa Eliasen

When my family and I left to go to California for vacation,
I had no idea of Muffin’s drastically decreasing health.
She had seemed a little old and slower than her former
years, but I thought nothing of it, the dog still seemed
lively and herself. After two weeks of fun and games in
California, we arrived back to our comfy home, tired and
exhausted.

Waking up the next morning, I went to see my splendid pet,
Muffin, but laying my eyes on her I was filling with grief.
My healthy, energetic pet was now a skinny, undernourished,
sickly, tiresome, bony dog. I couldn’t believe how much she
had changed!

At first I thought it was just me imagining things, but
petting Muffin seemed different. Her breathing was faster
and awkward, as if she was giving birth or something (like a
labored breathing.) Her spine was sort of sticking out of
her lower back a little, and her shoulder blades were also.
She was found lying down more often instead of up and
walking about.

My parents kept telling me that the dog was getting old, but
I didn’t want to hear it, I didn’t want to hear that my dog
was very slowly…dying. I refused to believe, I carried on
with my daily activities and routines as if nothing at all
had changed. Time slowly passed, and Muffin got worse. Her
breathing was irregular and faster, her meat and muscle of
her body seemed to be wearing away and her bones seemed to
take over, her nose seemed more dry and she almost found it
impossible to get up from the ground once she had lie down
for a rest. Going down the steps in the front of our house
to go to the bathroom appeared not possible, so I found
myself carrying her downs the steps.

Muffin had even started having much more accidents than
usual around the house. I couldn’t stand seeing Muffin like
this, but I didn’t want to come to the conclusion that she
really was dying and we had to do something about it. One
day, as my older brother, Jed, and I were hanging out in our
basement, my dad called us to have a serious talk with him.
We sat in our basement sofa, and my father began to explain
Muffin’s situation. We both understood what he was trying
to say, but hey, no one said it was easy to hear it. My dad
said that the following day in the morning that he would be
taking Muffin to a Veterinary Clinic to be put to sleep. I
couldn’t bear to hear, I couldn’t. I cried. My father
comforted me through my tears, I didn’t want my dog to go,
but I knew it was the best for her. She was suffering. She
was dying. My dad asked if one of us wanted to go with him
to the Veterinary place, and I agreed to go with him. I
figured that if I were dying, I would want MY family to go
with me, so I wanted to keep Muffin company as we drove her
to her death. The next day came and my father woke me from
my sleep, I knew it was finally the day for my dog’s passing
away.

I got dressed and ate breakfast. I was ready to go, and so
was my dad. My mother said her last goodbyes through tears,
she, too was sad for Muffin’s dilemma. My dad placed Muffin
in her bed and carried the bed to our car. I followed and
sat next to her bed on my left side. My father drove and we
were off.

On our way there, I petted and comforted Muffin as much as I
could, taking my last few strokes of her coat of hair. My
dad and I talked a great deal about Muffin’s passing. He
told me that Muffin had a long and grand life, and told me
all about Bible verses related to the passing of animals.
Mathew 10:29 states that “Are not two sparrows sold for a
penny? Yet, not one of them will fall to the ground apart
from the will of your Father.” This verse means not one
animal will die without the Lord knowing and caring about
that one animal. He said that once Muffin dies the Lord
would take care of her. That made me feel better, but I was
still distressed about my canine buddy.

My father explained to me the process of putting animals to
sleep. He said that the vet would give Muffin an overdose
of anesthesia, a substance that puts people to sleep before
surgery. This injection of anesthesia will make Muffin
relax and very sleepy. As she closes her eyes and falls
asleep, all her organs will slow down and eventually stop,
so the procedure is harmless and proper for an animal.

Once we arrived, my father carried Muffin into the clinic
and put her down on a bench right next to me. Waiting for
our turn with the doctors, we spotted a cat in the room. My
father and I both knew that Muffin hated cats, but I doubted
that she would move an inch to chase after it. Once she
spotted it, she flung her ears up and gave a little grunt,
but nothing more than that. The doctor signaled us to come
into the room, where a table awaited Muffin. We entered and
placed Muffin on the table, she was breathing hard and fast,
as I described before, and she immediately lay down since
she could not produce any more energy to stand up on her
own.

The doctor discussed with us Muffin’s health problems and
how the anesthesia worked. When discussing Muffin’s recent
behavior, the doctor concluded that Muffin was having kidney
failure. What happens with kidney failure is when the
kidneys do not work anymore, all the poisons and other toxic
matter spread throughout the body since it was the job of
the kidneys to clear out all toxins that enter the body.
People or animals with kidney failure usually stop eating
and urinate more than they should.

That explained Muffin’s malnourished, bony body and her many
accidents around the household. The doctor then explained
how the anesthesia worked. When injected with an overdose
of this, the anesthesia immediately takes affect. In under
a minute, the animal is dead.

With that said and done, the doctor gave us a pet cemetery
brochure and other information. The time came. The doctor
went into the next room and brought a needle filled with a
pink-looking liquid with her assistant. I couldn’t take it,
I cried hard. It’s not every day that you see a loved one
die. After a moment, the doctor found a vein spot in
Muffin’s right front leg, and stuck the needle in her flesh.
With one squeeze, Muffin was injected. I waited. I
watched. Muffin right away slowed down her breathing. She
tilted her head slowly and laid it down. I thought she
would close her eyes, but they stayed open. She stopped
moving completely. I looked at her. I looked at the
doctor. The doctor took out her stethoscope and placed one
end on Muffin’s chest. She looked at my dad and nodded.
Muffin was dead. I wept. My dog was dead, and I couldn’t
do anything about it.

I petted her head. The doctor and my dad left to go into
the next room to make phone calls to pet cemetery places. I
was left alone with the corpse. I petted Muffin; unable to
believe she was gone. I tried to close her eyes since they
were still open, but they refused to shut. I prayed to God
to help me get through this. After awhile, I stopped
crying. I thought about what my dad had said about Muffin’s
death in the car, and how God would take care of it. I felt
much better. I stopped feeling sad. I was happy for Muffin!
Her pain was gone, and she was in better hands.

I took Muffin’s paw, raised it in the air, and dropped it.
It fell with a thump. Well, she was dead all right. I took
her head and slightly waved it back and forth, she was as
limp as a sock. I felt good. I felt happy! When dad came
back he discussed with me about taking Muffin’s body home to
bury her in our backyard, in the woods. I agreed, and we
were off.

On the way back home, I told my dad that I wasn’t feeling
sad anymore, and that I felt kind of good that Muffin wasn’t
suffering anymore. When we arrived back at our house, my
mom greeted us at the door, but was still crying. She saw
Muffin dead in her bed as we carried her into the house. My
dad got dressed and headed into the woods with a shovel in
hand, with me close behind. We picked a good spot to bury
Muffin, and decided to put our dog’s grave in front of a
large stone sticking out of the ground, which would
represent her tombstone. My dad started digging and I
headed into the house to get the video camera ready, I
didn’t want to miss this opportunity to film all this.

Once dad was finished digging, we headed into the house and
wrapped Muffin in a plastic bag three times, so the smell of
her decaying would be unknown to scavenging animals in the
woods. Once wrapped in the bag, my dad, mom, and myself
went back into the woods to the grave (Jed was at work and
Keni would not have understood Muffin’s passing.) Dad
positioned Muffin in the grave as I recorded, and started
filling up the hole. Mom was still crying for Muffin, and I
was about to also. My father finished filling the grave,
and we left the woods to go back into the house.


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Please do us a favor: go to our horse care tips web page
http://petcaretips.net/horse_care.html
and check out the really cool mouse trailer we installed.

Let us know if you like it or don't like it and if you would
like to see a dog image mouse trailer on the dog care page
and cat image trailer for the feline care page.

We're also open for suggestions on what else you would
like to see on our Pet Care Tips site.
This is your pet resource
site, and we want to have the information that you want and
need, all in one handy place for you.

We're in the process of putting up a goat care set of pages,
more horse pages on specific breeds and horse racing,
plans for the future include: ferrets, fish, turtles, rabbits
and other small pets, & birds,  it takes a lot of work to do all this,
so give us at least 6 to 9 months before these last ones
will get completed.

We also have a Pet Memorial site that we're doing,
where you can keep a virtual memorial for your pets
that have passed on, we're keeping our paws crossed that it
will be done sometime this month.
Woof Woof, Purr Purr
Tippy & Alfred


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I have 4 cats and two dogs and I tell them daily how much I
love them. Just this morning Ryan a dog came up and put his
head on my lap and wagged his tail as I gave his kisses and
told him he was my best boy and how much I loved him. The
tone of your voice is what the dog hears not the words but
they give so much love to me why not tell them what they
mean to you....

Ryan--6 Yr old dog
Maggie 6 yr old dog
Shilo---15 yr old cat
Buster kitty--10 yr old cat
Jasmine jewel--6 yr old cat
Jezabel---2 month cat

Lynne Heaviside


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My name is Jan and yes I tell my Shane (White Poodle mix)
that I love him. I also say please and excuse me. I talked
to him just like I would do my child, I just don't get as
upset when he doesn't do his chores!!

I love your newsletter and stories, keep up the good work.
Jan Naumes



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