Late yesterday afternoon I made that dreaded last trip to the vet.  Our 14 year old red Irish setter Cinnamon was giving up.  Energetic, fun, and in trouble most of her life she had dropped from 52 to under 40 pounds in the last year and her hips were giving out.  She kept going and walking with us until the last few weeks; 3 days ago, she started refusing all food and I knew it was the end,  I carried her into the vets office and he gently explained the procedure.  I held her beautiful face in my hands while my friend Dr. Elroy gently put the fluid in a vein in her arm.  She did not struggle or whimper, her breathing slowed then stopped.  I wrapped her in her blanket an Elroy helped me out to the car.  I know we did the right thing, she would have suffered more and died within the next day if we hadn’t, but my heart is very broken.  I miss her fighting me when I tried to give her a bath, I miss her waking me up with a paw slap because it was thundering and she was scared and needed our attention.  Last night I met my oldest son, who had helped raise and train Cinnamon and spent days camping, fishing and hunting with her, at his rural property.  We dug a hole under an oak tree and laid our beautiful redhead to rest.  We miss you, Cinnamon.

— Bob from Loyal, WI