I posted this to Flickr and to Facebook on June 28, 2010, the day Libby the Labrador died. I figured I should post this here too. She has been gone almost two weeks now and life is not the same without her.

Many folks on Facebook and Flickr sent me their condolences. Thanks for your kind words and your understanding. My animals are family to me and losing one of them is as hard as it gets.

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Today we said goodbye to our dear sweet Libby. Libby was our 12 year-old Labrador Retriever. We adopted her from another family when she was six, but we’ve known her since she was a puppy.

In April she was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, a form of cancer, that had formed in one of the toes of her hind left foot. This is an agressive type of cancer and given her age and her other underlying health issues, it was decided it was best to just let nature take its course.

Over the last week, it became apparent that we were no longer able to manage Libby’s pain. If we gave her more medications she would be a zombie and the amount we were able to give her wasn’t enough to keep her even close to pain free. We celebrated her life with one last weekend with her. Over the course of the weekend she got all the treats she wanted, including two McDonald’s happy meals and two ice cream cones. At 1PM today, Dr. Amy, one of the vets from the Delano Veternary Clinic, came over and euthanized Libby for us at our home, where Libby could be surrounded by the people, animals, and things that she loved. She slipped away peacfully and is no longer in any pain. I already miss her terribly.

Although Libby was not a Helping Paws service dog, she was related to many of them, including Daisy Mae, another dog that lived with us in her twilight years. Daisy and Libby were half sisters. I would be honored if you considered donating to Helping Paws in Libby’s honor. To do so, you can visit www.helpingpaws.org.