Holding life in your hands
In Genesis 2:19-20, God bought all the creatures that He had created to Adam and placed Adam in control of each one. He showed this control by naming each one.
I took one of my dogs to the vet yesterday and the damage done by the arthritis was too bad for her to have any real pain free quality of life. We have had her for about 10 or 11 years if I remember correctly which would make her really old.
The reason why I started this post using a reference to Genesis in the Bible is because I was in a situation yesterday which I believe is the acting out of that control which God put over man. I was offered the decision to treat the wound on my dog which was caused by the other dog and let her continue out living on pain killers for the rest of her life, or to euthanize. Even on pain killers she would not be able to walk properly or run in the garden, she spent most of her time just lying down, laying next to her bowl while eating and simply putting on weight due to lack of exercise. Every now and then she would jump up at you but it was more like a bounce than a real jump, those days were gone. At that moment, I held her life in my hands, and I made the decision to take her pain away.
This weekend has been a rather surprisingly depressing weekend for me I have skipped a couple of days posts and even skipped some private work I have to do, but through all my thinking, even while unsuccessfully trying to get some sleep last night, I think the decision was the best for my dog. She has been a friend for a long time, my mom didn’t particularly like her (called her snooty with a high and mighty attitude), but I thought that she was just a proud dog and I liked that about her.
I will not describe the process of “putting a pet to sleep”, you are welcome to search on Google if you are interested in all the details. If you simply want to know what is involved in taking a pet to the vet for this, then I would recommend this article before making the appointment so you are prepared for the options that the vet will give you. If I can make one reference to the process, talk to your vet about your pets eyes during this process. The eyes freaked me out a bit.
I don’t think the Bible mentions anything about the spirituality of your pets, they definitely cannot make a conscious decision between right or wrong, they can however tell whether they have done something to hurt you and do feel sorrow for doing that thing. They don’t fall under the category of having a sin nature brought about by Adam’s sin, but I do feel that they have a soul, they can think and process information to solve problems in their life.
Well I am aiming to be back to my normal self tomorrow, I am pretty tired now and feel that I will sleep. I spent some time with some friends after church today, which helped a bit with the sadness. That’s it for this weekend.
I am JMR and this is My Little Corner on JMRPub.com
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May 21st, 2007 at 12:16 am
I am always saddened by the loss of a loved one, pet or otherwise. I know the feeling and would rather not have it again, I guess however I will…
I have three dogs who I dearly love, but the fact of the matter is life must end at some point. I have made peace with this and well looking at it from another point of view I feel the sadness just rounds off those many more happy memories I have about them.
This is probably why I will always find myself an animal companion, over and over again. Granted I can properly take care of them, else I will not have any.
In regard to animals having souls, I do believe that they have souls. A creature that has feeling within it’s eyes, comforts you when you are sad, and surely expresses joy. Must have a soul.
I have always thought of it more in the way of, Humans & Animals were created by the hand of god, so why would one have a soul and the other not?
Hope you are back to your old self soon!
Later,
Francois.