Saturday, March 06, 2004

Tootsie, or Bimbo (as my daughter called her pet), was a 5 month old cute male puppy. He passed away on Wednesday, March 3rd, at 10 o'clock in the morning due to unknown illness. Vet tentatively diagnosed him with a gastrointestinal foreign body obstruction due to unusual vomiting and loss of appetite to eat. Whatever he had ingested in his body was so serious as his death was inevitable on his third day of suffering, which shocked us all.

Tootsie was limping and had couple of wounds caused by his mother's bites when he brought to us in December 2003. He survived an eye infection in January this year and had grown up so fast and smarter. He was a loving, friendly and playful pet. He even got some friends at Friendster, mostly friends of my daughter who had seen him at home. He's not just a plain puppy to us, he's everybody's buddy! Kuting, my female cat, and Tootsie get along well with each other, except when it comes to food. Obviously, Kuting gave way most of the time.

What's so special about Tootsie? He gave me companionship from morning 'til I went to sleep. He covered the gap between me and my children, who were busy with their own young adult stuffs. Whenever I was infront of the computer, he would sleep and rested his head on my feet or if I watched TV, he would put his head on my lap. Every meal, I shared half of my food with Tootsie and Kuting. If I was doing our laundry or if I was busy cooking or washing dishes, he patiently watched me. Twice or three times a day, we played running around the house, I never realized that those little things Tootsie did for us made him very close in our hearts.

How can I forget those tears in Tootsie's eyes before his last breathe? He acted abnormally and secluded himself away from us when he started vomiting and later, uncontrollable bowel with blood. We feel he didn't liked to bother us in cleaning him up in his messy condition. Each time I was busy buying/selling stocks with BlogShares, he was gone and stayed in the garden or at the back of the house, in places he never frequent before. I was not sure if that was a normal reaction of a sick dog but, the fact that we cannot afford to confine him for treatment made me feel guilty. His medication and home treatment didn't helped him to survive.

Tootsie brought us joy and, it was really sad he stayed with us for a very short period of time. When my daughter told me yesterday that she would bring another puppy in a month or so, I told her I don't think I would be happy to have another puppy after Tootsie's death.

That day Tootsie died, Kuting delivered three kittens but he would not be there when these kittens grow up...

If you have a dog or a cat at home, do not wait 'til something bad happen to them, know what's good and what's harmful to your pets at Pet Place.