Thom Yorke

My dog Bob just died this morning. We had found a fully-developed tumor on him early in the Summer and he was only supposed to live a couple months at most. They said a lot of people decide to put them down right then, because the end can be very sudden when their tumor ruptures. He kept chugging along like his usual self until early this morning. He was struggling to breathe and was in clear discomfort; he tried to stand a few times but couldn't. Compared to other animals I've had though, he didn't seem to be in much or any pain, he just seemed kind of out of it and uncomfortable.

My mom was actually with me so we called the vet to come help take him in to put him down (he's 120 pounds, so it was no easy task to get him in the car). He seemed to be completely comatose while were were heaving him in, and just laid down in the back. I was with him in the back while my mom ran in to get keys. Then for just a few seconds he raised his head and looked alert, took a few sniffs in the air to see what was going on and then just gently went back down and laid his head to rest on his paws. I actually audibly heard a rumbling in his stomach which must have been his tumor rupturing, but he seemed to go so damn peacefully that he didn't seem to notice. He stopped breathing immediately.

I've had to put many pets down and have been with almost all of them at the end, but this was definitely the most difficult to witness. On one hand, you couldn't really ask for a better end for him as he was great right until the last few hours of his life, and even then was in relatively good condition compared to how a lot of my other pets went. Still, I was closer to him than any other pet I've ever had and it was really tough to witness him just go like that, even when I knew he was going to go (all of my other animals were put down).

He was the most good-natured, friendly, loving animal you could possibly ask for. He was babied his whole life and acted like it. Always the center of attention, always looking for affection, and he got a ton of it. As a huge dog with many medical issues in his life, he just saw his 12th birthday a week ago. He led as good a life as a dog could live and he'll be sorely missed.