Benny

I decided to let Benny go Saturday night. Here's the e-mail I sent to family and friends:

Hello,

I'm writing to tell you that I had to let Benny go last night. He had stopped walking about three weeks ago, and our regular vet suspected that a disc issue was the cause, and put him on crate rest. He seemed to be doing OK, until Thursday, when he would no longer eat. He emphatically refused scrambled eggs yesterday AM, and started to sound like he was having breathing difficulty yesterday afternoon.

I took him to the Animal Emergency Center, where they did a pretty comprehensive set of tests and x-rays. They called back to tell me that one of his vertebrae was most likely cancerous, which was causing the paralysis. In addition, his kidneys and pancreas were both outside of normal limits, possibly a side effect of the cancer, or 'just' old age.

There was no good prognosis, so I made the decision to let him go. I held him in my lap while the injections were administered. He slipped away peacefully.

I had two and a half years of being blessed with that little clown. For such a little guy, he had a tremendous heart.

He is missed. 

It has not been a good year for the critters here. I've lost Suzu, Baxter, and now Benny in about a year.

Grif and the cats are doing well.

Me, not so much.