I am posting today to bring you all some news. We found out last week that one of the our darlings, Piper, has bone cancer and it is terminal. At this point we are doing hospice and letting her lead the way.
She was taken off the adoption list and officially adopted by one of our founders, Laticia, so in her final days she had a home and a family that she belongs to. Piper is in good spirits. Today she was running around and rolling around like a pup.
We are going to let her dictate her final journey in partnership of our great vet Dr. L in California. Our goal is to enrich the short time she has left with us.
Don't be sad friends because she is not! She is living each day like a dog-- living in the moment and celebrating the joy that comes with that.
We have been comforted in this news with the release of Jon Katz's new book Going Home:Finding Peace When Pets Die.
Jon did a lot of research and on the book and talked to a lot of people who just plain love their pets. He look at rituals that have come about with animals passing and how we grieve.
I find it unique that society finds it foolish for us to grieve the loss of an animal. When telling someone about Piper this week one of our volunteers was laughed at because she shed tear while telling the story. She was told, "Look at yourself you are being silly crying over an animal." Our volunteer later noted that she realize the honest show of emotion made the woman nervous as she had never seen or had such an experience. You just don't understand if you have not known the love of a pet.
Here is a video Jon did to go with the new book.
