This past Sunday we had to put Clive down. He had been having problems with extreme lethargy (to the point that we thought one night he was going to die by morning) due to internal blood loss. Monday of last week we found out that he had what appeared to be multiple tumors on his spline and liver that were bleeding into his abdomen. By the weekend you could see his belly bloating from the blood loss. Sunday morning, he basically could no longer move so we knew it was time.
He was a very good boy.
It has only been a couple of days but I believe I can already tell that losing Clive is going to be harder for me than any of the other pet losses we have had. I always feel weird when someone says that their pet was their best friend. Truthfully it kind of makes me sad. Clive wasn’t my best friend. We didn’t have long talks about the meaning of life because, well, he spoke dog and I speak English. At the end of the day a dog is another species and I’m not sure that real friendship happens between species. However, I am convinced companionship does happen.
Clive wanted to be with me and I wanted him to be with me. It didn’t matter what I was doing Clive wanted to be near me. This led to me experiencing things with him and sometimes through him. That’s what happens with companions. You experience things together. Your experiences may be different, Clive was much more concerned with smells than I ever was, but even when different they experienced together. That’s what our pets do for us. We aren’t alone because we have companions.
Clive was a very good boy and I miss him.