9 years ago, mum came home from her vegetable stall in Desa Wira with a black puppy. So black and ugly with small eyes, fat, smelly and full of ticks. It was a male puppy of about less than a month old. Dad said he went to mum’s stall and she adopted him immediately.
I hated him at the first sight because he was an ugly and smelly puppy. However, dad loves him very much as he struck TOTO and 4D continuously after having the puppy at home, thus he named the puppy Lai Cai (来财) and fondly known as Ah Cai. Being me, I wanted to take part in the naming role and I started calling him William so he could behave like an intelligent and charming man (just like Prince William). So his full name was William Ng Lai Cai.
Day by day, my relationship with William got closer and closer as he became a naughty, playful, smart and handsome half breed black retriever. No longer the ugly and smelly puppy. Comparing to so many dogs that walked in and out our life, he was the most loyal and obedient of all. Although he was very-very naughty during the first two years by eating all the shoes, hiding everything he can keep at the corner of our little garden and escaped twice which we thought he died in a roadkill or kidnapped by dog eater since his fur was all black. Everybody in the family praised that he was a very handsome, strong and good dog. All my siblings love him too.
In the recent years, he was always trying to chase my car when I went out from home. Most of the time, I had to stop my car, open the back door and let him into the car for a short joy ride back to the house. After that, he would happily went into the house gate and barked goodbye in a happy tone.
My heart always felt bad every time he chased my car when he started to have weak knees, so I usually drove slower and helped him into the car. Doctors advised to get him glucosamine which I did and looked everywhere including Chiangmai, Hatyai and Bangkok for affordable options.
His health deteriorated this year. Little that we knew his weakness was not only about his knees.
One day in July 2015, I found a fleshy mole growing on his neck and took him to the vet. To my horror, he had a bigger growth of more than 1ocm behind his left ribs. (We didn’t notice because his fur were quite long and fluffy).
In October, I took him to another vet for an x-ray. That was when I had the worst nightmare finding more than 7 big and small growths inside his chest area.
I really did not know what to do but to give him better quality and comfortable life with healthier diet and supplement. His heart fell really weak on 17th December as he no longer able to walk so I took him to the vet and he stayed there for a night. On 18th December, I took him home and went travelling leaving him with dad & my aunt (Ongako) at home. Deep inside my heart, I hoped that he would passed in his sleep peacefully while I was away (part of it was I had fear to went through the death of another dog that played a big part in my life) but it didn’t happen… I came back on 19th December evening. Ongako told me that that he was barking and crying in pain the whole time since I left. He didn’t seem like he was ready to leave us but his health wasn’t improving but instead, it got worst because he peed and pooped while he was lying down. He could no longer stood or sat.
On 20th December, my family had to make a difficult decision as he was terribly weak and suffering for sharp pain inside his body. We had to call the doctor and helped him to cross the rainbow bridge. If I had choice, I would let him go naturally but he was suffering in serious pain for days. Seeing him lying there sadly on the floor and crying in pain was like having sharp knife cutting through my heart and I felt terribly helpless…
I spent the morning being next to him, stroking him gently, fed him with porridge, water and kept telling him that we all love him, don’t worry about us and be free from all the sufferings.
The doctor came and he left us at 1.00pm…
My little sister (Ing aka Elissa) sent me a voice message which I played for him as he was lying there with blank stare after the doctor gave him the final jab… He was finally free from his misery and no longer in pain.
Goodbye William Ng Lai Cai, be good when you meet Iwan, Bobby and Salven over the rainbow bridge… until we meet again. 😦
Memoirs of my life 