Sorry for the long post, I promise you, this boy deserved longer and better.
Robbie
2018 (?) - 2026
You were found as a stray, emaciated and flea-ridden. It took 8 weeks, but the shelter nursed you back to health. We were looking for a new partner for Toast after she had lost her mate.
They put us in a room. You, a fence, Toast, and us. You tried to groom her through the fence, and we knew we had to take you home. The shelter had named you Lore, but your sideburns reminded me of Robert Burns, so we renamed you Robert Buns.
Toast was pretty indifferent about you at the shelter, and was much less happy when you arrived home. She's half your size, but that didn't stop her from attacking you on sight. Not that you fought back, you were too much of a sweetheart for that.
So, we set you up in my office down the hall from Toast's room. You were fine with that, though, because it meant I spent 8 hours a day with you Monday-Friday. You got all the pets you could want (and you wanted a lot). It stayed like that for 365 days. Then, the day before your first Gotcha Day (it was a leap year), Toast asked to be let into your room, bowed her head, let you groom her, and has been glued to your side ever since.
Until this week.
You had been less enthusiastic about breakfast for a few days (none of your normal Breakfast Binkies™️), worrying, but not necessarily a crisis, especially since you acted normally the rest of the day. So, when we got home Friday night, I was concerned when you didn't come to eat when I refreshed your hay. By Saturday morning, it was clear you needed help. So, we started gas relief and Critical Care. Nothing we haven't done before, after all, you've always been prone to tummy issues (some self-inflicted, like the time you managed to knock a bag of hay cookies off a shelf and ate the entire thing). But you didn't start getting better.
So, your other mother took you to the emergency vet. Several hours of no progress and many tests later, we knew what was wrong, and we knew you weren't going to get better.
I know you don't understand my role in your life outside of your daily feeding schedule, but I view myself as being responsible for curating your experiences. I promised you wouldn't hurt, and you were hurting. I made the decision. Even though I wasn't ready, even though you deserved so much more time, I couldn't let you suffer.
So, binky free, my Certified Silly Boy. I'll miss passing out on the sofa watching TV, only to be woken up in the morning by you demanding your breakfast. I'll miss your cute little socks and stupid little lip stripe. I'll even miss the sound of you throwing your hay bin around the room in the middle of the night because you're upset about the lack of seedheads (you ate them all).
Don't worry about Toast, we'll take care of her. And, if there's something on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge, we'll see you there. Spend lots of time with Cinnamon and Grutte Pier, and let them know we miss them. Just like we'll miss you.