On Tuesday, the day of Aunt Honey's funeral, Sean called to let me know that Señor Nutty had died that afternoon.
Nutty had been in bad health for a while. He had heart trouble and had recently suffered from pneumonia. A few weeks ago he was so bad off that Sean's wife Pam called me and suggested that Thirteen and I come visit Nutty while we still could. He was happy to see us, but so weak he could barely lift his head when Thirteen tried to kiss noses with him. Pam had to carry him outside so he could go to the bathroom, and hold up his body to help him stand. Sean said that he later rallied enough to walk up the front steps by himself, but never fully recovered.
A couple of weeks ago Sean wrote a nice post about Nutty and Sean's other two dogs. I can only add a few thoughts of my own.
Thirteen, Nutty and Lina were all rescues and grew up together. Nutty had belonged to our next door neighbors, who seemed like nice enough people except for the nearly criminal neglect of their dogs. They left Nutty and another dog outside on chains wrapped around their necks, no collars. More than once we had to rush outside and save Nutty from choking to death because the chains had gotten tangled and the other, much larger dog was dragging Nutty around. Poor Nutty had throat problems all his life because of that.
The first time we ever took Nutty into our house was the night of a hurricane. A giant tree fell on his doghouse, actually a wooden crate on its side, which was miraculously not crushed. We ran outside to see Nutso in the rain, backed up as far as he could on that chain, barking his head off at the tree on top of his doghouse. The neighbors weren't even home so we brought Nutty inside and cleaned him up. We reluctantly gave him back, but soon after they moved away and abandoned him. He evaded animal control, took up residence on our front porch, and was ours as soon as we were sure the neighbors were gone for good. I remember Charles (our roommate) and I wanted to call him Stanley, but Sean insisted on Señor Nutty. Which was a far superior name, so well done Sean.
Nutty was one of the laziest dogs I've ever met. Even when he was young all he wanted was to cuddle and be petted. And he was so damned cute that he always got what he wanted. I used to lie on the couch and let him stretch out on my stomach, lying on his back so I could scratch his tummy. I didn't let Lina, Thirteen or now Jane sleep on the furniture, but I never had the heart to refuse Nutty.
When Sean and I split up, I took Lina and Thirteen and he kept Nutty. Over the years we got them together as often as we could, and they always loved spending time together. Thirteen was the oldest of the three, and I never would have guessed she'd be the last one standing. I'm really glad she had that chance to see Nutty last month.
If anybody else dies, could y'all please not tell me for a few days?
6 Comments
sarah, i think you have had the worst week in history. i am so sorry you're going through all this.
oh, i'm sorry about nutty :( what a sucky week!
So sorry for both your losses. Goodness! An Aunt and a loved pet are too much in such a short time. I hope you were able to have a nice funeral or memorial service for Nutty. When my last cat died, I met my father-in-law at his country home & we buried her under the trees with a few of her favorite things. Then we joined hands and said a nice prayer. It made me feel better to see her out that way.
Take care dear.
This is horrible on top of everything else! The only positive side is that he'd gotten so feeble--one can keep an animal companion going too long when it's like that, and that's not good either. But it's still very sad. I second the suggestion of a burial and/or memorial service.
Wonderful photos! But--but--the one mof mine makes me look middle-aged. Oh. I am. Well, fancy that. The one of the guiys with fennec-fox ears is great.
I really can spell; it just doesn't look that way.
Thanks Sarah, that was beautiful. I almost used the chair photo for my blog entry. Thanks for taking so many photos of the dogs -- many of the ones I have I've downloaded from your blog.