My Best Four-Legged Girl

In his sermon on Sunday, my pastor preached on the story of  Legion, the possessed man whom Jesus healed by driving out his demons (Luke 8: 26-39). Unfortunately, the demons were driven into a herd of pigs which then drowned themselves in a river. Seeing fit to add a bit of social commentary, my pastor suggested that after this incident, "PETA probably started protesting whenever Jesus was around." He added, "Based on where we spend our money, our society cares more about animals than starving children," and emphasized that, for Jesus, the life of one human being was worth more than those lost swine.

Pets and animals in general are a touchy subject. For some, including a number of my friends, animals are the equivalent of human beings. They believe they have feelings, thoughts, and other human attributes. I immediately thought of these folks when I heard this message in church. I knew that they would have been offended, based on the "they're only animals" tone of my pastor's comments.

As a rule, I'm in my pastor's camp on this issue. I do believe a human life has more worth than an animal's. I think the anti-PETA "People Eating Tasting Animals" t-shirts are funny. I don't get it when pet owners spend thousands of dollars on their animals or leave their inheritance to them. None of this means I don't love my dog, cat, and guinea pig, but they are not my equals.

Of course, this was what I was thinking on Sunday morning, before the growth on Maddie's eye started bleeding on Sunday evening. Maddie, as most of you know, is my yellow-lab. A second-(undocumented)- cousin to the infamous Marley. We have a love-hate relationship. She makes me crazy much of the time. When people ask how old she is I tell them she's 12, but that she's going to live forever just to piss me off. Now I'm not so sure.

I stayed home from work today to take Maddie to the vet, and I knew I was going to have a tough decision to make. How much was I going to be willing to spend to have this growth removed from her eye? "'They're only animals" thinking works just fine until one of yours is hurting. Well, it turns out the decision was more complicated than the dollars alone. The vet acknowledged that at Maddie's age, anesthesia could be too much for her. He questioned how her quality of life has been over the past year. ("Slowing down considerably. Her legs sometimes go out from under her.") He assured me that the bleeding was not going to cost her her life. I asked him how long labs typically live. He told me 10-12 years with rare exceptions.

I've decided to do what I can to make Maddie comfortable and to accept the fact that she probably won't be with me much longer. During this time we have left, I'll continue to make room for her in my bed and on my couch. I'll slip her that piece of my peanut butter sandwich. I'll sit outside with her when she's tired of being in the house and just wants to lie in the sunshine. She may not be my equal, but she is my faithful best friend whom I promised to love, sustain, and protect on the day I adopted her.