Never just pets

Jenny mentioned one of our greatest points, they are never just pets. We've met plenty of people (and have some family members) who can't understand that we don't want to have kids. We are very grateful that our parents get it, both sides of the family are very supportive and are very proud of their grand-dogs. Life is precious, all forms of it.

Here are two of the quotes that we have used to help others understand our perspective -

 

“Five sparrows sell for two coins of small value, do they not? Yet not one of them goes forgotten before God.” Jesus

 

 “One can measure the greatness and the moral progress of a nation by looking at how it treats its animals” Mahatma Gandhi

Regardless of your own religion of belief, repsect for life should be universal. A couple weeks ago, Toby had been diagnosed with IMHA but had not yet been hospitalized. We were doing our best at home, waking up by alarm every couple hours to let him out, monitoring his demeanor and hoping to avoid the situation we find ourselves in now. One night we heard Toby get up and he was looking for the ramp at the end of the bed but was too disoriented to find it. I awoke to him bouncing between me and mom and hearing the stomach sounds I pulled him to my chest and told him its okay. I knew he had to vomit and he wasn't going to make it outside so I told my kid that this was okay. That's what you do for your own, you support them at their worst.

Several months ago Meg got an ulcer on her eye. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise but at the time it was very hard. We took her in to the hospital and after several hours there we were sent home with 3 sets of drops, giving at least 2 of them every hour. The drops were drawn up sterile for each dose and had to be given 10 minutes apart. For every 60 minutes, at least 15 would be spent giving medications. From the time of that perscription to the time we got into emergency surgery was just under 36 hours. We spent a day and half taking turns every hour to give eye medications before we got into surgery.

Toby is doing pretty well tonight, fairly bright and active. We actually spent most of the night cleaning him up because his soft stool is getting caught in his fur. That's what you do for family. I read Vero's post early today about how we feel about our dogs and just wanted to add some background to it. We don't define our kids by what we paid for them, or what our expectation was. We agreed to adopt life into our family and to care for them, and to fight for them. Getting pooped on or puked on is temporary, it can easily be cleaned. Standing up to fight for Toby when he needs an advocate, that's the kind of thing that means something. There are hard moments that we all face, the moments that terrify us, but it is in those moments that we show our true colors, that we affirm what we believe. We believe that life is precious and worth fighting for. If someday I am to be held accountable for my actions then fighting for Toby will be a moment for me to hold my back straight and affirm that I gave all I had to give.

Night lil buddy, please keep fighting.

Thank you for your support, paws and hugs!
John, Vero, Toby, Meg and Pepper