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The difficult decision in euthanizing a pet...

It's amazing how attached we can get to our pets. They become like family after a while. Of course, when buying a pet, the last thing thought about is how attached we will get to these very animals and through that, how difficult it will be to say our final goodbye. I, unfortunately, had to do that yesterday with my dog Tasha. She was an all-white Siberian Husky. I'm not sure how old she was, as she was rescued. It appeared as if she had been abused by her original owner, but through the years had seemed to improve in comfort and spirit. At first, she couldn't stand affection, but slowly warmed up to that before in the past couple years, she was nosing my arms in order to garner some attention. So, I'd like to say she ended up being happy, much happier than she was for her first few years.

It all happened so fast. She had battled arthritis for a little while, but still found it in herself to go for short walks with me and my other dog. She'd attempt to play around and run around the house. She had no problems eating (or begging...). But just since last Sunday, she began to really struggle and things only got worse by the day. Sunday night, she began to limp a bit and had trouble walking much. This was very confusing for her and she attempted to fight it, but when doing so, would just fall flat on her face, especially when walking along the wooden floor or on the deck. She started needing help walking on Saturday. On Sunday, she couldn't walk at all and couldn't so much as stand. It was heart-breaking to see her trying with all her might to stand, crying in the process, and being unable to do so. On Monday, my mother and I took her to the vet and the doctor said she was likely suffering from a herniated disk and slowly becoming paralyzed. Unfortunately, the only true option was to put her to sleep. She was crying while laying on the floor, in obvious pain. My mother and I just pet Tasha while the doctor injected her. I gave her one last kiss and she slowly fell asleep and with that, her pain finally vanished.

My mother and I then cried for a little while, looking at our dog, petting her and wishing she was still alive, running around and begging for food. It feels weird to be in this house and for her to not be around, as she always seemed to be sitting close to me. I'm not sure what my other dog is thinking or feeling at the moment. She's been looking around here and there, sleeping a lot, but am honestly not certain if she knows what's going on yet. It's very sad to lose a family member of any kind, even if he or she walks on four legs. I never really thought about yesterday occurring when I got her and it's really heart-breaking when it happened. I just have to keep reminding myself that it was for the best, that she was suffering and didn't deserve to be in such pain. We'll miss you. Rest in peace, Tash.

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