Last Visit

08/03/2008 by David.

Just recently I have been calling at the vet often. It is always a four stage process: I go to collect a cat carrier and take it home until the time of the appointment, then I return with the cat in the box to the vet. (It’s only just round the corner so its a short walk.) I come back home, and then I return for the final step to return the borrowed carrier.

I made the journey this morning and then took Charley to the vet. But this journey was different - I would come back empty handed.

After deteriorating quite suddenly the cat had lost the use of her hind legs, become confused, and was not eating. A hard but necessary decision had to be made. Whether it was a stroke or a brain tumour we’re not sure - but Charley needed to be put down.

At first I was all for leaving her in the hands of the vet and walking away - but I stayed so as to be there at the end. It was swift and compassionate - but heart-rending too.

First Bosley and now a few months later Charley. I know, only pets but part of our lives none the less.

Making this kind of decision is never easy. But it is part of our responsibility to our animal companions.

Such decisions are acts of life and death. Thank God we do not have to make them too often - and thank God that the timing of our own departures is entirely in His hands not ours. As Good Friday approaches I remember that Jesus did what none of us can do - he voluntarily surrendered His own life for us.

There is of course no comparison at all - but there is a profound lesson:-

^6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ^7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ^8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(Romans 5:6).

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