karenoch

If you keep up with e’s twitter feed, you might already know this. Saturday night, we had to put Fonzie (aka Fonzarelli the chinchilla) to sleep. That afternoon, he started acting strangely: sitting in unusual places, not drinking, refusing his favorite treats. We called Angell Memorial and were told to bring him to the ER. (Angell Memorial is the best pet hospital I know. It’s also the only one I know but I can’t imagine a better place.) The cause of his illness was undetermined but it was clear he wasn’t going to live many more hours. Fonzie was almost ten years old and that’s considered a full life for a chinchilla. The decision to put him to sleep was not too hard but felt so final. E took the opportunity to discuss the putting to sleep of animals versus humans. Have you ever talked about euthanasia with a seven, five and three year old?

The kids seemed ok with what happened. They didn’t cry about Fonzie’s death but they did cry because it was 10pm and were not in bed. We were sad that Fonzie died but are not heartbroken. We got Fonzie and his brother Chewie as babies shortly after E and I got married. Chewie died five years earlier, but we’ve had Fonzie all our married life. It is a little strange walking past the cage and realizing that it’s empty. We gave Fonzie a proper burial which was a chance for all of us to say goodbye.

I put up a few shots of Fonzie’s last hours with us and a few more of his burial yesterday. I don’t expect all to be interested but it’s there for those who might be. If anything, it gives me a chance to close out this bit of our lives. Goodbye furry guy.

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