On 21 June my mother called me to tell me that her beloved husky, Maxx, had suddenly become very ill. He could not even stand up. I left work and went to her house to find him breathing with extreme difficulty. I carried him out of the house, loaded him into my car and took him to the vet.
The prognosis was not good. An ultrasound revealed that he had a large tumour surrounding his heart, It was preventing it from beating properly. It was literally squeezing the life out of him. The vet told us the dog had hours to live. We made the decision to end his suffering and have him euthanized.
If there is anything more distressing or heartbreaking than holding your elderly mother's hand while she bawls her eyes out, watching her dog take his last breath, I do not want to hear about it.
I drew this up as a tribute to Maxx, as well as Oskar and Ben, two previously lost pets.
