See you later alligator-Abby

by Leigh S
(Orlando)

Abby came into my life in Sept. 1995. She was a skinny, sweet little half Jack Russel Terrier half beagle. She seemed sort of sad and crawled up into my lap. I knew this was the one.

At first I tried keeping her in the kitchen with a baby gate, but she was so smart and wanted so much to be with me, she learned how to squeeze through the small opening on the side.

So I got a crate. It worked great when I went to work. I knew she was safe and secure and I would come home during lunch every day to feed her and take her out. She was house trained very quickly. She only had a few accidents and then she knew what to do. Back to the crate. I tried first putting the crate in the living room at night, but she kept crying so I moved it to my bedroom.

Now "they" always said you shouldn't put a dog on your bed to sleep. You needed to show them you were boss. Abby was ok sleeping in the crate at night at first, but then she started crying so I gave in. Up to the bed to sleep at night, in the crate during the day. This is the way it was for 14 years.

Abby was a great dog. We used to play, run around the apartment, take long walks. She had some medical problems here and there for the first 9 years of her life. Nothing serious, eye infection, diarrhea, but off to the vet, and she would be back to herself in no time.

Then when she was 10, she tore her ACL. I had the surgery and that was a very hard time. She had a number of stitches, an E-Collar and could hardly walk. Slowly she recovered.

As time went on, she got some arthritis and I started to give her a baby aspirin from time to time. Well then she developed a liver problem. Probably from the aspirin. Through some medication, and some special foods, she again recovered.

But as time went by, we didn't play much, and then she a few years later she started getting tumors all over. Mostly small, but one grew very large and others were bleeding. So I had them removed and one was determined to be cancer. That was 2 years ago.

Then last year she tore her other ACL. Being 12 years old at the time, I didn't want her go through the surgery, so we took the conservative approach. She recovered, but now our walks and playing were done.

Then just a month ago she developed another tumor. A mast cell tumor that grew and became ulcerated. Finally I said no more. Yes I could have the surgery, but now she was 14 and I just couldn't believe that the surgery would do that much to improve her quality of life. So this past weekend, I spent two agonizing days crying, researching and spending time with her.

Yesterday I called the vet to schedule an appointment to put her down. Today at 9:47 am she was gone.

Anytime I left her, I would always say, "see ya later alligator" and for the final time holding her in my arms as the vet gave her the injection, I said "see ya later alligator." She sort of growled at the end. She never did that before. I think she just wanted to be with me. But I had to let her go. I just couldn't let her suffer.

Good bye little Abby, I loved you so much. Don't worry, I'll see you later alligator.