Today I got a double whammy. My vet has told me that our dog Ginger has cancer. There are four separate tumors in her abdomin. She is 14 years old, and he fears that treatment will be quite rough on her. I have to wait until Monday to euthanize her. That is both a blessing and a curse. My children will have time to say good-bye, but I know that she is suffering. (Unfortunately, I have to wait for my paycheck.... isn't that stupid?!?) I know I'm doing the right thing by relieving her suffering, but it hurts so damned much!

While at the vet, I ran into the lady who adopted one of my foster dogs. He was a pit mix named Rebel. She told me that someone had shot him. The veterinary staff tried, but they were not able to save him. He was such a sweet dog! He'd lived at our home for nearly 9 months before he was adopted, and he'd slept at the foot of my bed everyone of those nights. I've never lost two so close together before.

My father always used to tell me that God never throws you a curveball you can't catch... but he failed to mention what you do when God hits you between the eyes with one...

(I'm not blaming Him, mind you. One loss is due to fate, or circumstance, the other due to man's stupidity)

I am sorry to hear that Rebel was shot. The more people are educated about dogs, especially pit bulls or mixes of- the better, and yes, people can be horribly ignorant.

If your sweet Ginger is 14, you obviously have given her a wonderful Life!! Wow- out of dozens of my dogs, over the past 30 some years, I only had one make it to such an older age, and she was also fourteen. No matter the age, saying good bye is painful- you're in the right place to  talk about that!

Take care

Our beloved mama dog, Ginger, passed away this morning.  At least her ordeal with cancer was over quickly.  We buried her in the garden near her daughter Missy, who died of the same ailment 4 years ago. My friends even brought her flowers.

She's been a part of our family for 10 years.  We adopted her after fostering her for a couple of weeks.  She was 4 when she came to us, and she was pregnant.  We kept three of her pups, and found homes for the rest.  She was a wonderful friend, and she will be greatly missed, but I take comfort in the fact that she is now free of her illness, and she lives on in her two remaining offspring, Charlie, and Sassy.

T.