Routine isn’t the most important thing in life, but it’s often a habit. Our house for example seems to have a set routine for sleep. Callum tends to drop off around 20:00, Rachel soon after and Louise tends to follow suit shortly afterwards.
This leaves me, now I’m not always downstairs but the routine around 22:00 is fairly normal. Occasionally it’s pre-empted by the tippy tappy of Staffie feet on the laminate floor. When I hear this I know Jazz wants to go out for his late wee. Often though I tend to turn off the TV and announce wee and bed to Jazz, this is followed by a slow head rise and an eventual slide off the chair. The routine continues with me letting him out, waiting for an age (cos he’s a fussy dog) and finally it’s time for his bed (which is upstairs next to me).
So that brings me to tonight, tonight it’s different. Tonight it’s wrong. There’s no tippy tappy, no wee and bed. Sadly Jazz’s health has finally got the better of him.
He’s an old doggy, 13 and a bit. So that’s probably surpassing senior royalty age. Over the last few months he’s not been able to climb up the step from out side. He makes a noble effort though, hopping his front paws up on the step. But the old back legs aren’t what they used to be, so often he needs assistance.
Recently he’s been gaining weight, so we’ve tried a course of water tablets – which initially seemed to offer help. The vets offered to drain off excess water, but the reality was a) he might not survive the anaesthetic and b) the likelihood is whatever was failing would bring back the water.
We’ve held off the decision no one wants to make as a pet owner, but yesterday the failings started to show. You see, Jazz has always been a loosely fitted dog – it was often joked that one day he’ll grow into his skin. Sadly yesterday it seems the water/fluid looks to have finally done just that. The initial problem was a bloated belly, but pockets of fluid started to appear on his chest and legs. As well as this, he was beginning to feel more pain. Because of his age I normally have to pick him up, but when I picked him up this time there were a few yelps. Breathing last night was a struggle. Sleeping for at least 3 of us in the house last night also was.
In the morning some of the swelling had gone down, but instead of the normally awake dog, we are left with a distant looking Jazz – maybe he knew what was planned – I don’t know. With the decision made, the call was made. We dropped the kids off at Mom and Dads. Dad came outside and gave him a pat on his head and turned back inside. We headed for the vets. En-route I stopped at the Sheldon Country Park so he could have a little trot around. I don’t know why I decided to, but I did. He always loved to walk, and though he didn’t go far he made his mark in several places.
Eventually we made it to the vets. For this type of procedure there’s no waiting around. You go straight into a room and they deal with all the paper work and payment there and then.
We both decided to stay with Jazz during the procedure. It’s a strangely calm few minutes, the vet explained what she was going to do. The needle was applied and Jazzy quickly drifted off to sleep, within a minute he was gone. The vets give you as much time as you want afterwards to say good and we stayed probably for 10 minutes. We kept his collar but wrapped him up in the blanket we bought him in. That’s the last I saw of Jazz.
We’ve opted for a cremation and to collect his ashes. We promised that we’d take him to the seaside. He enjoyed the beach, so probably fitting that we leave him there.
Of course it’s not the end of the problems. Coming home to house full of reminders isn’t great – pictures will remain, but we took to opportunity to remove the bedding and other stuff. So this was cleared up.
The worst part of the day is when we eventually got to Mom and Dads, there’s no real way of breaking it a 7 year old easier – so I just had to say Jazzy died. Rachel did take it badly, we’ve over the last week or so tried to soften it by explaining that he’s not well. In time I hope she’ll remember the happy times I think that’s the only way over it. Callum on the other hand, being 3 doesn’t really have the connection with Jazz to realise that his not around. He knows Jazz, but is probably too young to miss him.
Rachel decided to wanted to paint a picture of Jazz tonight……
A few recent shots
Happy Christmas Jazzy
Christmas Snooze
Bye Bye Jazzy RIP xx