‘Bye Kirra–We miss you!

Kirra was a funny sort of dog.   A miniature Fox Terrier.   She was not a personable dog who attached herself to people; she always remained aloof, almost like she was snobby!   She did like chasing balloons and soccer balls, and loved to play the ‘bed game’ when someone would hide under the sheets and she would try and get under there with them!   She was a great mouse catcher!   During the mouse plague we had whilst in Wagga Wagga, I lost count of the number of mice she would bring up to us and proudly show off!   One of them got its own back one day though; a mouse bite on her leg became badly infected but, that did not put her off her love of mouse hunting.   She had a nervous disposition and, more often than not, if you reached down to pat her, she would pull away; this got worse as she got older.   She was always ready for a feed and did not like travelling in the car.  She would start to whine and cry loudly, and it took ages for her to settle.

We got Kirra in Oct 96 when our big friendly Labrador/Rottweiler Benson left us. She was a playmate for our other dog, Kaiser, and also assuaged the grief of our daughter Rhiannan who was 4 at the time, and would sob for Benson at bedtime each night. 

I had to take Kirra to the Vet for a final visit the other day. She had turned 15 and doggy old age was not treating her kindly. We knew that she had a growth in her stomach; she was losing weight but her stomach and ribs looked like a balloon that was slowly inflating over time.   Her white soft coat had gone coarse and yellow.   She also had a problem with her bowels and the puddle of blood we found one night made us realize that there was indeed, something wrong. We also knew that she was losing her hearing but when the Vet told me she had bad cataracts and would be blind very soon, I knew that it was the right course of action for an old dog who was fast losing her quality of life.

   Jordy