RIP Tammy

Sometimes in life we have to make real difficult decisions. One of the hardest is ordering the end of a life for a long time family pet. But sometimes we keep animals alive purely for selfish reasons when if we think only of the pet the decision is easy. And so this last Tuesday we made that decision for Tammy.

A soft haired wheaten terrier, she was put into a dogs home twice in her first two years. We rescued her from the RSPCA dogs home in Bath in 2003 when she was two and found it hard to understand why she was ever in a dogs home in the first place as no one could want for a nicer pet.

Not used to living in a house nearly proved fatal as in the first few weeks she ran head first into a closed patio door, collapsing her neck vertebrae, causing polarises from the neck down. The vet didn't expect her to last the night but we took her home and cared for her, took her to hydrotherapy and over time regained the use of her legs. When you take on a dog you take it on for it's whole life and don't give up on it just because it's going to cost a lot of money.

She lasted another 8 years although the strain of that first accident gradually took it's toll on her mobility. However in later life she also developed thyroid problems and Cushings disease (liver) and when at the week end she stopped eating, unusual for Tammy, I suspected this was the end. Had we not taken that decision she would have suffered multiple organ failure, probably at night when we could do little for her and died a painful death. We spared her that fate and she went to sleep with dignity.