Remembering GOO GOO

What I remember most about my Goo goo is, come what may, when I come home from outside, he always used to greet me with a wagging tail and he never used to calm down and relax till I used to pat and talk to him for at least a few minutes. That was the time when he made me feel special always, even when I came back home from the worst situation, he always used to try his best to make me feel special and help me cope up with my stress in life. I am always going to miss that. I can still feel his sounds of panting and snoring besides me. A big vacuum created by his loss is never going to fill. It was unbearable to see him in pain and we always tried our best to comfort him. But, those unwanted and unfortunate circumstances in which we had to send him to kennel, I am never going to forgive myself for that. Though I did not see his end, I can imagine how painful it would have been for him as I have seen that kind of panting and breathless sounds earlier.

A year ago he had health issues when we got to know that his kidneys were not functioning, Shubhangi made immediate arrangements and took him to Mumbai's Parel hospital. There, within day or two he was showing signs of improvement. He got cured completely in a span of 10 days and got discharged from the hospital. Life was full of joy and happiness again. Soon we brought him back to Pune and things were back to normal. 

But, off late since last 3 months or so, he had these problems where he used to get breathless while walking and sometimes used to give up walking mid-way. It would require a lot of persuasion to get him back on his feet and get him home.

He was so cute, he never bit anyone in his entire life. He was so friendly with humans, he used to get excited to meet anyone. I remember how excited he got when the man from kennel came to take him. In his overexcitement, he was panting a lot and a thought did come to my mind that it might not be very good for him to stay at the kennel. The summer heat would become unbearable for him. But, I just ignored and thought that he is a fighter and would be ok for 2 weeks and later anyways we would take him to the Parel hospital which would fix him all right. Though there was always some fear at the back of my mind. 

Everyone in our society used to know me because of Glory. People used to get surprised whenever I used to tell them that he is 12 years old. He looked much younger, but for his panting they could realize that he is an old man. He used to bark whenever the doorbell rang, which he had given up in the last six months or so. Pune's climate suited him specially as he got rid of his long-term problem of the ticks. There were some times when he had faced the problem of ticks, but it used to get fixed with the fipronil spray or the fipronil powder. Last year when he got hematoma in his right year, I was very concerned that he must be in a lot of pain. We got the accumulated blood from his ear removed at least three times from one of the vet. He said goo goo would require and operation to be fixed. We took him to another vet for a second opinion. The new vet told us that this will get cured on itself, but you can use homeopathic medicine to help him and give him some massage on the affected ear using Beledona Q liquid. I did that for about 3 weeks and goo goo got cured of hematoma. I felt happy that it did not require a surgery. He used to love food and baring a few incidents he did not give up on food. He used to get three meals a day and he was still always asking for more. He used to shake hands and liked to interact with everyone. He was very fond of the stray dogs and he liked to meet and play with them, though we never allowed for the fear of infections and ticks. One of different trait of goo goo was once he grew up he never allowed anyone to lift him. Even in the worst circumstances of his health he always walked on his feet. He was the most lovable and always won hearts wherever he went.
 
My mom always feared what would happen if he would collapse when she is alone. I used to say to her that it will be managed and please do not fear about all that. And when the hell broke loose, none of his family members or the closed and loved ones were with him. It breaks my heart. Probably, when he needed a comforting pat from us, he might have just waited in pain. We could not give him a comforting death is what will remain as a guilt always in my heart. He chose to give up his life away from everyone probably, because he did not want to give us the pain of seeing him leave us for good.

Goo goo was cremated on the same day, i.e. 16th April 2016.