Our Last Day

At 9:00am on 4th June 2009 I climbed into the car next to my friend for the last time. Jed was sitting up as he has always done but this time he was not able to get comfortable. I placed my hand on his back as his front legs were shuddering and he was having trouble stabilizing himself as the car moved. Under the ever watchful eye of his ‘pappa’ we made our way to Halls Head Small Animal Clinic.

We arrived at the surgery at 9:15am and Dad made his way in to speak to the vet. I moved closer to my friend and put my head on his back, I knew this would be the last time and I quietly whispered “I love you. You’ve been such a wonderful friend and such a good boy.”

Jed started to lean against the door of the car as Dad returned from the surgery and we just sat and waited…I removed Jed’s harness to try to make him more comfortable. 5 minutes went by and it felt like an hour…I saw Richard walk out of the surgery door and I had an overwhelming feeling of relief and a sense of calm came over me. Richard came to the car and gave Jed an ‘initial’ examination and reported that “His pulse is weaker than yesterday.” He then stood and chatted to Dad about our options whilst I sat in the car with my friend, my hand never leaving his back.

Dad’s next comment was “Ok, lets do it.” And my heart sank even though I already knew ‘this was it’. Richard pulled out a needle with a green liquid in it and my memories of Leah came flooding back. Dad was standing beside the car as Richard started injecting Jed. Within 30 seconds he slumped over the back seat of the car and Dad began to look frantic…desperately trying to get close to Jed. He quickly opened the front door and moved the seat forward so he could reach through to the back but he could only barely touch Jed with his fingertips. I wrestled with desperately wanting to be ‘with’ Jed when he died and came to the realisation that it should be Dad who is with him at the end. I climbed out of the car and stood looking in the window as Dad placed his hand on Jed’s heart Normal 0  and Richard completed the process. Richard checked Jed’s heart and at 9:30am, on Thursday the 4th June 2009 my friend passed away and was finally at peace.  

Jed was moved so that he was lying comfortably along the back seat and Richard discussed ‘what happens next’ and Dad decided that Jed would be kept at the surgery until he was picked up by the Pet Crematorium the following morning. Richard assured us that he would be treated with the utmost dignity. The stretcher was brought from the surgery with a couple of blankets to cover Jed.

Dad crouched down at the side of the car so he could have one last moment and one last look at his boy. Jed was very gently rolled into the stretcher and his feet tucked in, the blankets were wrapped around him and he was lifted out of the car and taken across the carpark and into the surgery.

I leant into the back seat of the car and unclipped Jed’s harness from the seatbelt…must have been a habit of mine. Dad and I climbed into the car and reluctantly drove home, leaving our friend behind. We talked about Jed all the way home and when we arrived it became instantly real…opening the garage door and not seeing him sneaking out, his bed just outside the kitchen door. He ‘really’ had gone and it was the end of an era.

 

  Jed Brown

1997 - 2009

“Farewell my friend.”

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