On Death and Dying

This everyday blogging business is getting a lottle bit annoying. Yes I noticed my typo, but it seemed to work within the context of the sentence.


Sooo, I haven't mentioned Radagast in awhile; he's my brown retriever, who is dying. He's taking his sweet time about it, too. I see him shrinking day by day; he's a bag of bones. He basically sleeps all the time, and since it's so hard for him to move my husband turns him over every couple of hours to try to prevent pressure sores.

He's incontinent, but that started early, when he was still walking around. Now that he lays down all the time, and he's not really eating much, it's not much of a problem. [He sleeps on many layers of papers which makes cleanup easier.] Sometimes he does get up on his own, because when we wake up he's not in the same place we left him when we went to bed; he doesn't move around when we're here. I think I have (lousy) pictures of him in his younger days.

This was Radagast in about 2004-05

Yes, we have a blue plaid floor. It came with the house.
Charming, no?

Death is a similar process in both humans and animals. The main difference is, I think, the emotional connection we have with people - especially the parent/child relationship. I was with each of my parents as they went through their deaths. All of them, parents and pets, experience the same wasting away of the body, the same difficulties with lack of function. The only real significant difference that occurs to me is that I could speak with my parents, and I knew exactly what they needed and wanted for their comfort. But of course, with an animal, we can only surmise and hope we get it right.

That's the main reason I wish I had the money to take Radagast in to be put down, but that is a moot point because it's too late for that. It would cause him too much distress to be moved in a car at this point. But it is one thing I was still able to do with other pets, and it was so peaceful for them. And because I had a lot of time to process, I was emotionally ready, so it was easy for me, too. They had a death with dignity, and that is not what I feel is happening with my big brown dog at this time. It may be natural, but it is not dignified.

Radagast has lived longer than I ever imagined he would. He doesn't behave as if he is in any pain; I only hope this is so.

Good Night, TTYL and Be Well