The tale of two friends.

Our little Nutmeg has past away.  We were all very sad to see him go, but we know that it was his time.  He's not suffering anymore.

We got Nutmeg from our friends in New Mexico several years ago.  His name when he came to us was Thomas.  Anna quickly changed that and gave him a very cutsie name of Nutmeg.  I'm sure that really got his goat.  Right from the start he was very affectionate with the all of us.  Sometimes a little too affectionate.  We would take him to the park and play tag with him.  Where ever we went, he would follow. 

It wasn't until we moved to Washington that we realized that Izzie, our older dog loved Nutmeg and didn't want to hurt him.  They became the best of friends, spending almost all their time together.  Then we got Buster.  Nutmeg and Buster were almost the same size and spent hours playing together.  Then Buster was killed and Nutmeg and Izzie were very sad.  They couldn't tell me themselves but they acted sad and depressed.  They became even closer.  We would let Nutmeg spend almost all his time outside with Izzie because we knew that Izzie would keep him safe.

Several weeks ago we noticed that Nutmeg was loosing weight.  I found out that his teeth had over grown and caused some abscesses on his mouth.  We took care of the teeth and got him on some medicine for the infection.  He just didn't seem like his old self.  He was slowly eeating and making progress, but it wasn't enough.  Toward the end he would sleep on Izzies dirty old chair in the garage.  It's the chair that Izzie sleeps on when she's been outside playing in the mud.  I kept him in his cage a lot more so I could monitor his food and water more. 

A few days ago I had Troy helping me make a grapevine wreath.  We decided the get Nutmeg out for some fresh air.  We put him down right by us and by the time we were done he was gone.  We looked every where for him.  I was stressed because I knew he wasn't strong enough to be left outside.  The family kept looking for him, day and night.  We would have Izzie help us too.  I knew she was worried. 

This morning Soren was out helping me pick blackberries and he found Nutmeg right by Izzie's doghouse.  Izzie had found Nutmeg and brought him back to us.  I have a feeling that Nutmeg went out to die.  He knew it was his time, even though I was trying so hard to make him better.  Izzie is sad that her friend is gone.  She made sure to bring him home to us.  Troy and Logan went and dug a grave right next to Busters.  The kids all came out and said goodbye to him.

It's so hard to loose a pet.  I find that I become way to attached to them.  It makes me angry when people say that animals don't have feelings.  They haven't seen Izzie in her grief when she lost Buster and then Nutmeg.  Those two were an unlikely pair.

A dog and a bunny.

We still have our Izzie girl who we are loving like crazy right now.  A few hours ago she was inside looking out the kitchen window when she realized the kids had gone for a walk down to the pond without her.  I let her out the door and she ran straight to the kids.  Troy and I just stood at the window and watched her.  I got a little choked up at the unconditional love that Izzie has for the kids.  The kids love her back that much too.  We have our Poppy and Ted.  The cats and Izzie just ignore each other. 

We will keep our eyes open and watch Izzie and make sure she does OK.  We are all sad and it will take time to heal.  I just think we were really lucky to have Nutmeg in our lives.