We knew this day would come. It was imminent and it was inevitable.
A week ago Monday was a very sad day in the McCormick household. We had to take our pooch Bailey to the vet and have her put to sleep.
She brought us a lot of joy during all the years we had her.
Bailey was a really special little companion. She was so much a part of our family.
My wife Pat believes, and I totally agree with her, that maybe what made her so special is the way she came to us.
Mary at the groomers we’ve used throughout the years called me one Friday morning when I was at work.
She said a customer walked in that day with her pet to be groomed and she also had this little stray dog who had wandered up to her house that she had been taking care of a short time but could no longer afford to do it.
Unless the groomers knew of someone, she was going to have to take it to the animal shelter.
When the groomer called me, she asked are you and Pat ready for another little dog? We had to have another pet put to sleep five months previously.
I called Pat and asked her what she thought. She asked me the same question and we agreed to go take a look. I somehow knew this little dog would be ours that day.
About mid-afternoon that day, Pat came home with the little Shih Tzu, all groomed and pretty.
We took her to be checked out the next morning by our vet. She only weighed six pounds, but she was ours.
And the vet thought she was at least 18 months old and he said she’d already had at least one puppy.
From the beginning, she showed her unconditional love for all of our family.
Bailey had such a sweet personality.
She fit right in. A unique trait we found out about her quickly was she hardly ever barked. But when she did, we better pay attention because she was alerting us about something.
She loved to go in the car, liked going with us when we went down to our place at Lake Eufaula, and begging us at the table was just part of life.
Back in the first week of last December, our vet discovered she had congestive heart failure. He started her on a couple of medications and added another one later.
On Mother’s Day evening, she started breathing differently. We could tell she was struggling a little.
On Monday morning, as I worked here from home, and Pat went on to her work, I kept a close eye on her.
I realized she just couldn’t get comfortable. About noon, I contacted our vet, called Pat and she met me and Bailey there.
The vet confirmed it was time to put her to sleep.
The two of us have cried our eyes out but we knew it was the right thing to do.
The joy and comfort our pets bring us is really irreplaceable. There is something about Bailey that’s making it extremely tough.
At least we think so.