We had to say goodbye to Toby yesterday. He’d been slowing down and having more accidents, but he’d gotten through so much–getting his thyroid under control, diabetes, the remission scare–that I thought he’d just keep going.
But Wednesday he started having balance issues and was lethargic; blood work at the vet showed something was wrong and he’d lost a lot of weight. We wanted him to be at home, so he got some heavy-duty pain meds and had a good night. Then the mobile vet came Thursday morning and he left us in his cozy bed hearing us tell him what a good boy he was.
I had nearly 18 years with my boy–he was my orange shadow, my fabric inspector, our midnight singer, my constant companion, the other half of my heart. He had such a big personality. Seeing these photos of earlier years, I realized how much of that personality was fading the last couple weeks. So I know this was the right decision. I’m glad we could give him the gift of a peaceful exit at home. We just had to break our own hearts to do it.









