RIP Our Beloved Dog Boy

Today is one of the saddest days in my life for our beloved dog "Boy" died yesterday at the age of thirteen. Grieving an animal can be as painful as losing a close family member. I lost my mom eighteen years ago and my dad five years ago and what I'm going through today is very similar. I had also lost a dog when I was 15 and I remember how empty it had left me.

I had already written a blog entry about Boy (whose original name was Freud but became Boy with time). He had been fighting a terrible form of cancer known as myeloma for the last three years. He put all his energy into this fight and I can only have the utmost respect and admiration for the courage he showed during his fight. When, three years ago, we thought he was gonna die in a matter of days, we were all devastated. It seems that our prayers were answered as Boy got to live another three years and we cherished every single day that we got to spend with him since then. Though taking multiple medicines including chemotherapy, he continued to live happy and for the most part pain free.

Despite multiple eye surgeries and being blind in the end, he never ceased to play and to show us unconditional love. This is a lesson that all human beings should learn from him: to be compassionate, dedicated and to love unconditionally. His seven pounds of flesh and blood showed that no matter the size, living beings can do spectacular things. He made me firmly believe that dogs are man's best friends.

I want to pay tribute to his existence by posting some pictures of him and a video.

We will miss Boy terribly. All his naughty habits and special kindness. We will never forget his special way of playing with a ball as he would always go run for it but never bring it back. We thought it was the cutest thing. We will never forget his favorite toy Charlie:

We will never forget how he used to play with his basket or any rug. This was his special way of playing by himself:

I can only believe that Boy is now watching upon us from Dogs' Heaven where he definitely deserves to be:

Dear Boy,

We will always love you. I hope you understand that we had to put an end to your suffering yesterday. You never deserved to suffer the way you did in your last days. We couldn't let you keep on being in pain for us. We know you struggled until the end to stay with us, to stay for us. But now the pain is gone and you can enjoy your after life.

Man's Best Friend Fighting Cancer

As you might have noticed, I tend to write, once in a while, a serious blog post. I don't know if this post qualifies as serious but I felt I had to share what follows. As mentioned in a previous blog entry, you may know that my dog was diagnosed with advanced-stage myeloma (a cancer of plasma cells) two years ago. At the time of diagnosis, his vet also realized that he had suffered a stroke due to blood hyperviscosity caused by the myeloma. It made me feel so sad to see such a small dog stricken by the pain of such a devastating disease that the agnostic in me asked aloud: "'If there is a God, why would he/she make such a harmless little dog suffer like this?". It just didn't make any sense to me.

Miraculously, chemotherapy proved to be very effective and our beloved dog Freud (yes, psychiatrists like to give funny names to their dogs) survived when his vet was talking about putting him to sleep in a matter of days back in 2008. I must say that I'm touched by the courage this tiny little being put into his fight against cancer. Some vet might call me anthropomorphistic but I can't imagine that my dog wouldn't have some degree of consciousness of his well-being and of the people and world around him. As a matter of fact, recent studies show that many animals show some degree of self-awareness in contrast to what was formerly believed.

Boy (we actually ended calling him that instead of the smart name we had found for him) went through very happy times in the last two years. He, however, also went through harder times when, for instance, he had ophtalmic surgery for a corneal replacement to treat a corneal ulcer. Last week, he also went through cataract surgery as his vision had gone down to the point where he was almost 100% blind. He is now recovering from his eye surgery and all our thoughts and attention are with him.

If you read this, just think about him. The Wired Article "A Prayer Before Dying" about distant healing through prayers intrigued me back in 2002 and we know so little about consciousness and the power of the mind that being open to new possibilities might lead to breakthroughs. So, who knows? Your thoughts might help! Of course, I'm not saying that I firmly believe in distant healing but I'm pretty sure that thoughts can't hurt. I might also add that my agnostic beliefs were and are now still in question after my dog miraculously responded to chemotherapy when I asked aloud my question about God allowing him to suffer.

To make it even more personal, I will add that I lost both of my parents to cancer. My mother died in 1993 after a two-year battle against breast cancer and my father died in 2006 after a six-month struggle against acute leukemia. Although our minds won't make us immortal (at least not in the near future), positive thinking is an important factor in the fight against cancer and other life-threatening conditions. Don't underestimate it. A battle is never lost until the very end and being optimistic often leads to discovering new possibilities.

I would like to dedicate this post is dedicate to all beings, human or not, and their families. May positive thinking and distant thoughts help you all.

Note: This blog post is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by any religion.

Boy has a facebook page! Please like his page and send him positive thoughts!