Ruthie
It's been a while since I've posted here. I felt I had to.
For those of you still here who followed my life in China for 11 years, you will no doubt remember that for 9 of those years, I had a very sweet and beautiful Shi Tzu mix I rescued in Shanghai, on Dec 4, 2005. Her name was Ruthie, and she became my constant companion - someone I couldn't do without. I spent entire pay cheques on her, rushing her to the vet for the slightest sniffle, and she rewarded me with love, devotion and loyalty like I had never known.
This past year I've been back in Canada, recovering from a car accident that broke a part of my back in half (Dec 18, 2013), I brought Ruthie back with me, on February 28th, 2014, and we had one final great year.
In early December, Ruthie was diagnosed with diabetes. This was on top of her deteriorating hips. In January she developed an eye ulcer, and on Feb 6th, she lost the use of her back legs. On Feb 7th, the vet said that it would be a kindness to put her down - that she was suffering and there was nothing we could do. Her veins were collapsing and no nutrients were reaching her major muscles. Any treatment they could give would have been expensive, invasive, require hospitalization and would only extend her life by a month, if that.
Cost didn't matter, but suffering did. So at 10:15 Saturday Feb 7, I watched as the other half of my heart died in my arms.
I am still walking around in a fog. Everything sets me off. Apparently I was screaming into my hands as we left the vet's offic that day - truthfully, I don't remember.
She was the light of my life, when I was so alone in a country I hadn't truly acclimatized to when I adopted her. For 2 straight years, before I started realizing there was a life to be had in Shanghai, she was all I had. The only person I socialized with on a regular basis. The only one I could ever truly talk to.
I feel like I've lost my life, I just don't know it yet. It hurts so fucking much.
Anyway, there were people here who I know liked hearing Ruthie tales, and you deserve to know what happened to her in the end. Talking does help a bit, and I am so afraid that I am going to forget the little things. If any of you feel like posting a story of her that you remembered hearing, or have a Ru-tale you really liked, I'd love it of you posted a comment. Eventually, I plan to take all the comments here and from Facebook where people have been generously doing the same thing, and turn them into a little book I can pick up and read once in a while, to refresh my memory of the truest friend and partner I could have ever asked for.
This is the only icon I have of her here - excuse the merry xmas. I'll work out something else later.
Thanks guys.
{edited to put correct months... apparently I wasn't writing/thinking clearly. It's Feb12, she's been gone for 5 days total now}
For those of you still here who followed my life in China for 11 years, you will no doubt remember that for 9 of those years, I had a very sweet and beautiful Shi Tzu mix I rescued in Shanghai, on Dec 4, 2005. Her name was Ruthie, and she became my constant companion - someone I couldn't do without. I spent entire pay cheques on her, rushing her to the vet for the slightest sniffle, and she rewarded me with love, devotion and loyalty like I had never known.
This past year I've been back in Canada, recovering from a car accident that broke a part of my back in half (Dec 18, 2013), I brought Ruthie back with me, on February 28th, 2014, and we had one final great year.
In early December, Ruthie was diagnosed with diabetes. This was on top of her deteriorating hips. In January she developed an eye ulcer, and on Feb 6th, she lost the use of her back legs. On Feb 7th, the vet said that it would be a kindness to put her down - that she was suffering and there was nothing we could do. Her veins were collapsing and no nutrients were reaching her major muscles. Any treatment they could give would have been expensive, invasive, require hospitalization and would only extend her life by a month, if that.
Cost didn't matter, but suffering did. So at 10:15 Saturday Feb 7, I watched as the other half of my heart died in my arms.
I am still walking around in a fog. Everything sets me off. Apparently I was screaming into my hands as we left the vet's offic that day - truthfully, I don't remember.
She was the light of my life, when I was so alone in a country I hadn't truly acclimatized to when I adopted her. For 2 straight years, before I started realizing there was a life to be had in Shanghai, she was all I had. The only person I socialized with on a regular basis. The only one I could ever truly talk to.
I feel like I've lost my life, I just don't know it yet. It hurts so fucking much.
Anyway, there were people here who I know liked hearing Ruthie tales, and you deserve to know what happened to her in the end. Talking does help a bit, and I am so afraid that I am going to forget the little things. If any of you feel like posting a story of her that you remembered hearing, or have a Ru-tale you really liked, I'd love it of you posted a comment. Eventually, I plan to take all the comments here and from Facebook where people have been generously doing the same thing, and turn them into a little book I can pick up and read once in a while, to refresh my memory of the truest friend and partner I could have ever asked for.
This is the only icon I have of her here - excuse the merry xmas. I'll work out something else later.
Thanks guys.
{edited to put correct months... apparently I wasn't writing/thinking clearly. It's Feb12, she's been gone for 5 days total now}