Today we said good-bye to our lovely dog, Molly. She just turned nine in July and yet it feels like she was only with us for such a short time.

Yesterday Molly wasn’t acting like herself. I was vacuuming the house and as a rule she generally avoids me when I am associating with that machine. So it wasn’t until I almost walked right into a big pile of vomit that I realized I hadn’t seen much of her all day. She was laying downstairs and wasn’t following my every move like normal. But it wasn’t until we gave her dinner and she took two bites, looked at us, and went to go lay down again that we REALLY knew something was the matter. Anyone who knows a labrador retriever knows that labs don’t mess around when it comes to food. Period. So we kept an eye on her and said if she wasn’t better in the morning I would take her to the vet.

Morning came and she still wouldn’t eat. So I had Sim help me load her up (she wouldn’t even jump into the back of the car) and I took her to the vet. They said her weight was fine, she didn’t have a temp, but her heart rate was pretty rapid so they wanted to run some blood work. Based on the levels, all signs pointed to a liver infection. They gave her a shot of some strong antibiotics and sent me home with some meds. I was to keep an eye on her, feed her small, bland meals (chicken and rice) when the meds kicked in and she got her appetite back. They said if she got worse, to come back. So we let the vets office with a sigh of relief and optimism in our hearts.

So when I returned home from running a few errands and picking up Ana from school to find Molly still laying in the same spot I left her, in a puddle of her own urine, I knew things were worse. I cleaned her up and tried to get her to drink some water. She just stared at me. It was the first time she refused to drink and it was the first time I got really scared. Her breathing was labored and her eyes were darting back and forth. I told Sim I needed him to take her back to the vet. NOW. Molly wouldn’t even lift her head and Sim had to carry her to the back of the Jeep. When he got to the vet she said “Oh my! That’s much worse than earlier! What happened, Molly?” So they took her in for an X-ray to see what was going on. Sim called me a little while later and said I need to bring the girls to say good-bye to Molly. They found a tumor in her heart and it was filling her all organs with blood. The only thing they could do was make her comfortable until we could get there to say good-bye. On the way to the vet I had to explain to the girls that we were going to see Molly for the last time because she was very sick and the vet was going to take her pain away by helping her go to sleep forever. Ana was very upset and said she didn’t want to say good-bye to her friend. Through sobs from the back seat she told me, “Mom, I changed my mind. I don’t want any toys for Christmas. I just want Molly to be ok.” I had to hold back my own tears as I explained that sometimes people and animals don’t get better, no matter how much we wish for it. All we could do was tell her how much we love her and remember all the happiness she brought to our family.

We all huddled around Molly and she spent her final moments being petted, cuddled, and told what an amazing dog she was. She was an important part of her family and she will be greatly missed.

Molly Bateman
July, 10 2003-December 21, 2012