Unconditional Love

It was December 22, 2018, when I got a call from my son that our dog was ill and I needed to come home. I told my boss I had to leave and she was understanding, as a family member was sick.

When I got home, Phoenix, our beautiful, loving pittie, was laying on the floor covered in his own vomit and urine, and although in pain, he still wagged his tail at the sight of me. I petted him and kissed his head, asking what’s wrong like I would do with one of my children.

I proceeded to clean him up and try to get him to stand, but all he could do was fall over and whimper in pain, yet through the pain, he looked at me with those big eyes full of the unconditional love an animal has for us humans and wagged his tail.

I lifted him and placed him gently into my van and took him to the vet, hoping on the way it would not be anything serious.

After we arrived, they took him in right away, and after a very long half hour, the vet came out and gave me the worst news. My boy had a tumour that burst and he was bleeding internally, and even though they could do an operation for ten thousand dollars, they could not guarantee he would survive, and I don’t have money like that.

That day, my son and I sat for the last hour holding him and talking to him, telling him what a good boy he was and how we loved him. Then it was time for him to sleep.

It is the hardest thing to do. It is like losing a child. After, we carried him back to the van and took him home where we laid him to rest.

Life has not been the same without him. The house was so empty, so quiet.

He is missed every day, and although we have two new babies in the house, our beautiful cats, no other animal can replace the other or come into our lives and give us love and companionship. They give us what we humans lack so often: unconditional love and forgiveness.

We could all take a lesson from our four-legged babies, 'cause no matter what, they will always find a way to forgive what some do to them and trust in us again, and they will always love us.

So I say to all you out there, treat your animals like they are your family, 'cause they will always give you what humans most of the time never will: unconditional love.