'Mouse' JEFFERY
August, 1995 - July 17, 2009
'Mouse' was born relatively locally at sometime around August 1995 and was a top little dog who just decided that he wanted to be with us and our then cats, 'Arthur' & 'Ivan' and our other two dogs, 'Beau' & 'Possum'. The cats adored him too, so much so that as we drove in one cold morning at around 2:00am the cats both ventured out from the dog kennels followed by a tiny black and white puppy whom they had been cuddling up to and keeping warm in the kennels. They could very easily have jumped in through the back window and stayed inside where it was much warmer but didn't.
People often asked how he came to have the name 'Mouse' as they thought it strange for a dog. The trurth of the matter really is that he chose it himself.
His original name had been 'Bud', a name that neither Shirley nor I liked and, it would seem, neither did he - he just would not answer to it. Nor would he answer to it when we thought to name him 'Thumper' because of a habit he had of bang his tail on everything with it constantly wagging.
One morning I was sitting a small concrete wall in our yard and he was over under the clothes line and I called him over by just saying softly, "Come here daddy's little mouse!" and he did. From then on he always answered to the name 'Mouse' and that was it!
In the years since we have lost 'Ivan', 'Arthur', 'Beau' and 'Possum' and in April 2001 , because my darling girl couldn't bear to be without cats we took on jet black twin sisters, 'Caitlin' & 'Catriona' that we got from a bi-polar lass who was living in Katoomba, was about to move and couldn't take her girls with her.
They settled in almost immediately and 'Mouse' fell in love all over again with his 'sisters' and with whom he quite happily shared his food bowl from day one.
I lost Shirley in August 2007 and 'Mouse' and the girls have been my surrogate babies ever since.
In January this year 'Mouse' collapsed during a holiday weekend and was totally unable to walk. It transpired that he was afflicted with very severe arthritis in his back and just plain couldn't stand up so I took him to the vet fully expecting him not to come home and was prepared to say goodbye. However, two days, an anti-inflammatory injection and some very expensive pills and he was back home with me. Since then, I have had the prescription for his 'Pred' pills filled twice at around $40 each time to try and maintain his mobility.
Over the last few months he has been throwing up more frequently than I would have liked and yesterday morning this got to the point where couldn't get his breath when trying to get up from the sofa and I had to lift him off and carry him most of the way out back.
When he started doing the same again and brought up the two sausages that I had given him as a treat, I decided that it was time to say goodbye and rang the vet.
I took him to the lake for a roam around and a sniff, brought him back home and sat out in the beautiful Winter sunshine with him for the entire day after that - me on the chair, he lying on the grass beside me. I gave him a can of the girls' seafood as a treat for his last meal and around 4:00pm we wnet to my friend's home where "mouse' had a final roam and sniff around one of his favourite backyards before taking him into Lithgow where we said goodbye.
I held his little head kissing him and speaking softly, telling how much I loved him and hoped he could forgive me for what was happening.
The vet also informed me that it appeared he had a tumour which was the probable cause of his inability to keep his food down. I am now shedding tears for the first time as I write this.
Goodbye my darling 'Mouse',
What life I have will never be the same without
you!
Daddy
July 18th, 2009