Obituary March 1997 - July 2007

The love of my life is gone. After a 10 year `romance`, he left me. Cradling him in my arms at the vet`s and seeing so much pain in his little eyes, I decided to put him to sleep.

I got a call from my Dad on friday afternoon that Chico was in pain. He was vomitting blood and also had blood drips from his penis. His back legs was also paralysed. I rushed back thru the lunch crowd & as I drove up to my house, I could see him trying to drag himself using his front legs to greet me. He was howling in pain. It was a sound I never heard from him before. I picked him up. He didn`t look good.

Took him to the vet`s at B`fields after the sembahyang crowd had cleared. Dr Lim cleared the whole clinic to attend to him. 3 Doctors and 2 nurses immediately took blood, did scans etc. He had a sharp bladder stone which was bruising his insides and causing the bleeds. They also guessed that he might have had a stroke which paralysed his back legs. Sigh.

I left him there for the night and came back on Sat a`noon after his blood test resuilts came out. His liver was almost 90% damaged. And his condition was the same as yesterday. The vet counselled me and told me that even if they could flush out the toxins in the liver and regenerate it, it would take time and also cause him pain. Also there was the issue of his bladder stone. And paralysis....he said that even if we could extend his life via surgeries etc , the quality of it would be suspect. I knew what he trying to tell me...

I called up some friends to tell them. Had dinner with a good friend then went back. And thot real hard.

Sunday morn at 8 a.m. I was there at the vet`s. I asked to go in early to see him. As soon as he heard me calling him, he started whinning. I picked him up and cradled him for almost 2 hours. In between sobs and talking to him, I decided. He was in too much pain. I told him we were going to bury him in the garden and plant a strawberry shrub on top as that was his favorite fruit.

At exactly 10:16 a.m., he was put to sleep in my arms. It was fast, less than 10 seconds. He stopped whinning in pain.

I took him home and started digging. And digging. Then it started raining. Really hard and heavy. The hole I dug was now a small pond. So we dug further. My Mum and I cried as we dug. We buried him after saying our goodbyes. He was placed in a small box with a cushion for support and his fav bone.

Adios my good friend. Will remember you for life.