Pug sadness

After many months of waiting, discussing, and concern, we made the sad decision last week that it is time to have our sweet, beautiful pug put to sleep.  I could use the word euthanized, but it sounds too harsh, and our plan and our hope is that he will go to sleep and awaken  happy and whole in pug heaven.

A veterinarian who makes house calls will come next week so our sweet animal won't have to take a stressful car ride.  R will close the shop for a little while and come home to meet him.  I'll stay at work because I'm not sure how I would be able to come home for lunch and then return to work afterwards.  I found an old afghan I crocheted and we'll wrap him in it to keep him warm and comfortable.  When it's over, the vet will take the pug to be cremated, and when we have the ashes we'll scatter them in a circular pattern in the back yard in the same way our little guy has wandered the yard for the past couple of years.  That way he'll always be here in the only home he's known since he was a puppy.

The second part of the plan is to allow our other pug to see him after he's passed so she'll know what happened.  We don't want her to wonder where he is and we've heard that animals make an easier peace with death when they know it happened.

This morning we awoke to a cold rain, and it made us feel better about our decision.  He hates rain and snow and always has, so imagine how hard it is on him when he has to go outside and circle around in the mud and snow trying to find a spot to do his business.  He gets very cold and wet and I'm sure it doesn't help his arthritis. And he's always been incredibly slow and deliberate when attempting to "find his spot" so it exacerbates the situation when the weather is bad. 

So that's where we are.  I hope we're making the best decision for him, and our goal for the next few days is to make him feel happy and loved.  Then I hope when it's over we will feel we did the right thing.