Looking back now there were so many signs , but I just couldn't bare it so I pushed back in my mind The signs they were there and clearly to see, my heart was so heavy, the thought of you leaving me Fist came the cough which cleared up with some meds, then came the seizures, something different to dread. At first they weren't often so I decided no meds, then often and many they came full speed ahead. I couldn't't let go so the meds we pursued, though the side effects many; I researched; I knew... Your stumbling, off balance and laying around, they were all normal reactions to the med, I had found. So I waited and knew these effects wouldn't stay,; you'd be back to yourself in a few weeks so they say. But this didn't happen , new problems arose; you quit all your barking and licking my toes. Picking you up to go outside and carrying you back in, you used to take the steps yourself but I ignored the signs again. You trudged along; the car rides too, but I couldn't leave you alone, " not you!" So off to the grandparents when I went to work; you ate and you drank;took your meds; What a perk! So again I'd push back all the signals you'd show; you held tough for me cuz I couldn't let go. The car rides you'd loved, they weren't like before; when I'd say " Abby, go bye he and you'd race to the door; and you'd bark when close to grandmas or home, the whole neighborhood knew I wasn't alone. But then you quit following me out in the grass; you'd circle and circle... " this too shall pass" My family, they told me; the time it was near But I just wouldn't listen, I just wouldn't hear. That night I woke up with you not to be found, you were down in the basement just circling around. Your vision was going but you went with the flow; how much mommy loved you; you couldn't let go. The cats, how they watched you, I think that they knew, with you feeling rotten and me feeling blue. And then the night came when I did see the sign; I couldn't ignore it when all night you whined. I faced the fact finally, you were now telling me; the time had now come and I must set you free. I dreaded this day but I knew you must go; "I'm sorry Abby girl but I want you to know, if I hung on too long that I did try my best, and I loved you SO MUCH so I laid you to rest. ( sleep well my little girl!) GOD bless all the little fur babies and their families