Dealing with loss

Do you have a pet snake? A pet ferret? A dog? A cat? If your answer is yes, then welcome to the community of animal lovers. Pet gerbils don't count, they're too ugly to be considered animals. *grin*

Well see, unless you have a pet, you won't understand what I'm gonna about to talk about. The bonds and relationship that you have with a pet.

You won't know how it feels to come home, and to see your pet all excited and jumping to reach you from the other side of the door. If your snake does this, please do email me with picture. I could use the extra money.

You won't know what it's like to spend time with your pet, playing or just cosying up on the sofa. Please don't try this with hamsters. Hamster sandwiches aren't very appealing to the palette.

You won't know how it feels to be comforted by the mere loving presence of your pet. Scorpions obviously don't apply here. I for one would feel more threatened than comforted!

Most of all, you won't understand the pain of losing a pet. The death of a pet is a horrible experience. You raised her or him since they were young, and then you watched the light of life fade from their eyes. Be it to disease, old age or an accident. It can be very traumatizing. All of a sudden, there is an empty space in your heart where your pet used to be.

When a pet escapes or disappears, the feeling is even worse I discovered. Recently, exactly a month ago to be exact, my beloved pet dog Baby escaped from the house. The door was left open and she decided to chase a cat. This wasn't the first time she'd escaped. She'd been cat hunting before, but we always caught her.

This time some thing disastrous happened. She was chased by two stray dogs and ran even faster than she normally does. Try as we could, we did not manage to keep up with her. And that was the last we saw of her. Running frantically for her life.

For the next few days, we worked tirelessly to find her. I spent more or less thirty hours on the road, looking for any sign of her. We spent days putting missings posters and going door to door placing pamphlets with her picture on it. Pleading with our neighbours for any information as to her whereabouts. We even placed an advertisement in the Star in hope of some news.

We had a few sympathetic callers, dog lovers themselves, call in to empathise and say that they would keep an eye out for Baby. She was even spotted once in SS19/1F by a lady. She normally puts food out for strays at night. One night she saw Baby whining in the middle of the road. She's terribly small for a Jack Russell and Jack Russell's are already a small breed.

Anyway she was whining because she was hungry and wanted to eat the food, but two larger dogs were stopping her from getting near the food. The lady did not know she was a missing dog, so she did not take her in. It was a heart wrenching experience for me and my family to hear Baby is such a state. And even more painful was the fact that she was almost found and brought back to us.

Today, a month later, all we have of baby are her toys and memories of her. Memories of the warmth she brought our family. Her mischievous antics. Hey playfulness. And most of all the love that she made us feel. She was with us for two years, and she went missing a week before her birthday.

People who don't have pets will tell you, 'Get a new dog,' or 'It's just a dog, get over it already'. But they didn't syringe feed sugar water to Baby when she was sick. They didn't sleep with Baby for two years. And they definitely didn't understand what it was like to lose her so suddenly.

The worst thing about her disappearance is that we do not know where she is. If she is alive or dead. If she's still wandering the streets trying to get home. Or if some one has taken her in and is giving her a new home.

The wondering takes it toll on you. And its even harder to let go, than if the case were that Baby had died in an accident.

Still, my mother lives with the hope that one day Baby will return to us. Until then we will keep her memory close to heart and pray that she is safe.