The Passing of a Truly Great Man

Sometimes bad things happen.
Sometimes bad things happen to good people.

I was told today that my local vet passed away on Monday. I couldn't tell you his last name. I couldn't tell you where he lived. I can't even tell you about his family. All I know is that his name was Jim and he was a truly great man.

Last year we had to make the devastating decision to put down our beautiful baby girl, Nicki. She was the best dog you could ever ask for and putting her down was hard. Damn hard. But Jim was there with us the whole way.

He made us feel comfortable with the decision. He recognized how hard it was for us and he never wavered in his support.

Before giving Nicki the final injection he was with us. He talked us through what would happen to her body and he held her paw and stroked her fur just like we did. He stayed until she lay their, quiet and at peace, then let us say goodbye before he came back and wrapped her body so we could bury her.

Jim had a big heart for animals. My husband and I were so grateful for the respect he gave us during the awful days leading to Nicki's death. And even when it came time to get a new puppy he was so kind to us.
I called him in a panic on Christmas Eve. Our pup (Shadow) had just been attacked by another dog and her eye was hanging out of the socket - the poor thing screaming for her life. He was away on vacation and couldn't help so we went to another vet who charged us over $900 to fix her. Something Jim would have never done. He never seemed to care about the bottom line.

When Jim came back to work he took over the care of  our pup, barely charging us the cost of the medication he was prescribing, not even charging a consultation fee.

...Ok, I can't write anymore...

I just felt I needed to share how great this man was. In the limited time we spent together I know that his passing will be a huge loss to the community. I hope he is in a better place, maybe looking after out Nicki once again.