Hold ’em when they cross the bridge

A recent post on Facebook of a vet’s plea to pet owners moved me and brought back memories of Ebony, our 13-year-old cocker spaniel. In December of 2007, Ebony was unwell for ten long days.

There was a suggestion, well-meaning I am sure, to put him down. But we refused as we saw Ebony regaining his strength. He bounced back, especially on that Sunday, December 30, 2007, when my niece Vanessa returned to Bengaluru from Mumbai.

An hour later, he waited at the gate for her to return from the parlour, and somehow convinced her to take him for a long walk in the hot afternoon sun.

Lunch over, my husband Peter and I retreated to our upstairs room for our customary Sunday siesta. Vanessa curled up on the sofa with a book to read. After an hour, she noticed Ebony going to the bedside of my mother-in-law, who was bedridden. He put his front paws on her bed and sniffed her like a sort of a goodbye kiss.

Then he headed to the stairs and made a valiant effort to come upstairs to us, as Venessa looked on. Probably he wanted to say bye to us. He could not. Vanessa recalls, “I remember that day so well. One minute he was sitting so quietly, and the next he was restless.”

Ebony went into aunty Ivy’s room and then tried to come upstairs to us. When he struggled to climb the stairs, Venessa called him.

“Then he came to me and lay at my feet. I talked to him. I did not realise that he was going. I will never forget him shuddering at the end and that last gasp.”

Vanessa rushed up to call us, and Peter reached him for that final moment. It was quick. We were shocked because Ebony was seemed so lively just that morning.

It must have been comforting for Ebony to know that he was not alone. There was a familiar face with him as he breathed his last.

To quote the post that inspired me to write this: “Dogs know what’s happening...Be there when they cross that bridge”.

They deserve it.