mom with Duncan (left) and Remy, February 2015
In incredibly sad news, my parents lost Duncan, their almost-fifteen-year-old Cairn terrier on Wednesday. My parents got Duncan as a puppy when I was in college when our first dog, Toccata, died after a good 10 years. Since then, he has certainly brought our family many happy memories. After having to say goodbye to Freya, a younger Cairn, prematurely and a mere year and a half ago in June 2013, it certainly is hard for my parents to mourn the loss of another dog in two years, and makes them relish Remy (an adopted dog they got last year) even more. Any time I hear about animal illness, suffering, or a death, I feel incredibly sad and fear and dread the day we'll have to say goodbye to our Pepper.
My Dad wrote an e-mail eulogy to memorialize our precious Duncan (April 2000- 2/18/15).
Hi Gang,
We took Duncan to the vet today
to be euthanized. He had been declining for the past 10 months or so,
but the pace of the decline quickened in the past three months and was
marked by a fairly rapid loss of weight. Two weeks ago he tore an ACL,
which further reduced his mobility (he was already suffering from
arthritis). For a while he appeared to get better; he was still able to
move around slowly on level ground, but we needed to carry him out to
his walking area and up and down stairs. On Monday he developed a bad case of diarrhea, which did not improve by today. On Tuesday
he had one of his fainting "flops," which were occurring more
frequently, and he later had what appeared to be a seizure. He also
stopped eating, his greatest delight in life. Multiple systems seemed to
be shutting down at about the same time. He was clearly miserable, so
we decided not to let him suffer further.
Duncan
almost made it to the age of 15, a ripe old age for a dog. Toccata
lived only 10 years; Freya, 8. I chose Duncan (over his more frenetic
sister) from the breeder near Richmond because he seemed both friendly
and calm--more so than most terriers. He lived up to expectations, and
he seemed to be friendly to all creatures great and small--except
rabbits. He was always puzzled when another dog did not wag its tail
back at him, and the result was two attacks from less friendly canines,
the first in Copenhagen a few weeks after he arrived.
Copenhagen
was probably the best time of Duncan's life. He loved walking in the
parks, streets, and cemeteries. He was always on the lookout for a
discarded slice of pizza, and he would invariably suffer for it
afterwards. His favorite walk was in the cemetery next to our apartment
house, for his friend Laura would usually be there in the afternoon at
her husband's gravesite and would always have a doggie treat for Duncan,
who could sense her presence from a long distance. We discovered in
Copenhagen that he was a good swimmer, for he jumped right in the castle
moat to try to join some ducks while Mom was walking him off leash one
morning. He had only one bad habit: sometimes lying at weird angles in
our bed and taking up what seemed like half of the space. Oh, and he
also snored.
Remy
seemed to bond with Duncan during their recent stay at the Paws Awhile
kennel near Warrenton. The nuns reported that Remy was often lying on
top of Duncan. We noticed some of the same behavior here. At one point
both of them were even squeezed together into Duncan's day bed, and they
happily shared Mom's lap in the TV room. Tonight Remy seemed to sense
Duncan's absence, and he whimpered a bit tonight after his dinner--eaten
alone without Duncan around the corner of the kitchen peninsula.
Until
the last few months Duncan had been a remarkably healthy and mobile
dog. He had a good, long run. He leaves us with fond memories of an
ideal pet.
Duncan in Pepper's bed, November 2013
Watching the neighborhood with pal Remy, September 2014
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