In memoriam: Georgie and Kobe

Our two dogs Georgie (F) and Kobe (M) died one after the other within the space of three weeks. The two (including Bushy, their kid) all had distemper, in which the visible symptoms include the chattering of teeth. Somehow, Bushy managed to survive, though he still exhibits the aforementioned symptom. Georgie was a fighter, but she was already weakened, so Tatay decided to make her last days easier by moving her inside the house. It was really awful to see her so frail, and really breathing laboredly. Kobe was mostly outdoors. He, too, was weakened but he was also trying so hard to fight back. But the vet who came over said nothing could be done and so Kobe had to be put to sleep. Our pet semetary is bursting at the seams, methinks.

So now, Bushy, the lone dog and survivor, has now graduated from eating table scraps to eating Alpo. At least his gastronomic repertoire has vastly improved. Am keeping my fingers crossed for him, especially since when his brothers and sisters were being given away, I was the one who chose him to stay with us. Plus, he almost died when he was a pup. See, that time, the screen doors were being repaied and the guy forgot to clean the brush used to apply the thinner. It fell on the floor and Bushy, ever so inquisitive, licked the bristles. The next day, he was lying on his tummy, groaning to no end. I had to administer sugar water to him in order to neutralize the effect of the thinner he ingested. That's why that dog is special to me. Now, we're seriously thinking of trimming his tail which is just plain annoying (therefore his name).

Next time: more stories from the animal house