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Hannah
Hannah
She was dying, the whole family could see it clear as day. I still think about her, and how sad it was to let her go. But I live with the eternal fact that it was for her own good. As hard as it was to let her go, she is in a better place now, far from pain and ignorant people who did not appreciate how gentle and beautiful she was.
Hannah had led a fairly normal life. We got her from a private breeder; she was the biggest puppy there. We were told no one wanted her because of her size, my sister Tara thought otherwise. She had been saving up for quite some time now. She had earned three hundred dollars with her paper route. I was four at the time so I don't remember much besides being handed the half asleep puppy while my sister paid the breeder.
Hannah was always big-- big for a puppy, big for a rottweiler. I guess you could say we loved to feed Hannah, and she loved to be fed. She was always very friendly, though we all knew my mom was her favorite.
At around five years of age she began to get slow, slow at walking and slow with stairs. We knew she was overweight at that point, though I don't remember why we didn't do something about it. When she turned six, she continued to grow steadily slower and stairs became a great challenge, so she spent most of her time downstairs on the couch sleeping. We knew something was wrong, though I can't think why we didn't do something. Every time we touched her she flinched as if it hurt her to be stroked in a loving manner.
She turned seven when we moved to our new house. It took her quite a long time to get moving so she could be put into the van and taken to the new house. Moving was the final blow for Hannah. She couldn't take it anymore. Now grossly overweight she could move but we could all see it hurt her to do so. We took her to the vet. She was over one hundred pounds with no muscle. Rottweilers are known to have very weak joints that can get hurt very easily. She was put on and emergency diet. She stayed on that diet for over a couple of months, which we all thought was working until August 23 2005.
She was dying and the whole family knew it. She'd been unable to eat for a month now. Sorrow hung in the air as she puked up another mouthful of watery bile, one of the only things she could do these days. I began to cry when I walked past my parents talking to each other in hushed voices. My step-dad, Ian, was telling my mom how when he came down the stairs Hannah was just lying there. When he called to her, she only lifted her head the barest amount, putting so much effort into a movement we all take for granted. Ian had to carry her down the stairs so she might attempt to eat. She could not so he took her to the front room where she was now, puking. The tears rolled freely down my face as Ian told everyone getting her put-down was for her benefit, though we may be sad for awhile. My mom told us that she didn't want her to be in pain anymore. Ian once again lifted her up so they could put her in the van and begin the long drive to the vet where she would be put-down. I cried a lot when we got there, not wanting to see one of my best friends die at the age of seven. Ian, who seemed to be the only one not crying, hoisted her up and into the room where the vet waited. The vet took out a small vile with pink liquid in it and transferred it into a needle. He had to shave a spot on Hannah's leg. While he was doing this Hannah looked at each of us in turn as if saying bye. I bent down and whispered in her ear," I will always remember." I left the room as the vet slid the clear needle into her vein. I began to cry anew, not caring who saw me this time. When the rest of the family came out we all got into the van, each of us silently remembering our own memories of good times spent with Hannah.
A couple of months after her death we were told that Hannah had had joint cancer, which had spread to her stomach, finally killing her. I could not imagine the pain she must have gone through on a daily basis, and yet she continued to greet us everyday with a wag of her tail.
I'm not done yet but that is the story so far please comment.
This is a true story and this is actually what happened eight days before my Birthday.
Dedicated in Loving Memory of Hannah
1997-2004
Please comment on this my teacher says I should publish it as a book but I have to know if anyone else thinks that...
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