Lately, I have been so preoccupied with the condition of my terminally ill father at the hospital that somehow, I forgot to take care of my dogs at home. Or that I have dogs at all.
As a result, one of my two dogs died today.
This morning, I went to the hospital to attend to my father who has been diagnosed with multiple organ complications plus pneumonia and tuberculosis. He is the main source of my worries recently because the doctor already said less than a week ago that we should expect anytime soon of the worst that could happen. Perhaps my next visit could be *knock on wood* him already a cold body.
Most of my time now is spent in the hospital with him and looking for ways to finance his hospitalization. With the nature of my work online, I just bring my laptop there while taking good care of him at the same time. The rest of the family has full-time work and school, so I am left to look out for him in the isolation room during the day.
The thing is that I overlooked that we have other members of the family who also need attention: our dogs.
I, being the most concerned in our family with our pets, admit that they have not been attended to since my father was rushed to the emergency room two weeks ago.
I did not realize the consequence of this until today.
This is our dog on his first day at home.
Our dog is named Gunther. He is a mongrel dog, or in Filipino terms aspin or askal, given to us by a relative.
He is being kept at the back of our house, which is a common area with my grandmother’s house, because when he is in the front he makes a lot of mess. My mother particularly does not like how Gunther behaves so I agreed to put Gunther at the backyard.
For the past few weeks, I have asked my grandmother and my cousin who resides at my lola’s to take care of our 5-month old puppy. Gunther’s spot in our backyard is visible in our kitchen, and I see from time to time when I am at home that he is being fed.
But the thing is, I personally haven’t petted him, played with him, or fed him personally for a long time. That is something that I regret now.
This is the last time I played with our dog, together with my niece. It was December.
I was met by my grandmother this afternoon upon coming home from the hospital that we lost Gunther. The reason is unknown – she said that the puppy just laid on his back already lifeless today.
No words could describe how I felt when I received the news. To be honest, I am more prepared now of my father going because we were given a warning, but with Gunther’s passing I felt that I am an irresponsible dog owner.
The only thing I could do now is to protect and take care of our other dog, Cory.
She is a 9-year-old dachshund who is well-behaved, so she gets to stay at the front. Even though I pass by Cory every time I come home, I do not give her the same attention anymore because I am always thinking about my father, or at times, my work.
That has changed today after what had happened to Gunther.
This is a video taken during one of our walks in December. Cory is on a leash because she is the one misbehaving, with Gunther freely running outside on the street. With Cory acting as an adult, Gunther does not wander by himself.
There is only one thing now that bothers me: Do dogs have their own version of heaven? I need to know. I have to make sure that Gunther found his way there.