Benny: A Very Good Boy

Benny came to me on October 17, 2015, from Southeast Corgi Rescue (SECR), with an estimated age of 8-10 years. He passed on March 1, 2024. 

Benny had been slowing down for a while – to be expected at 16-plus years old. Until mid-January, his appetite was strong; his mobility had declined some but remained sufficient. He slept a lot, ate well, and enjoyed his life. I bought a ranch-style house for us in 2022 when we moved from Atlanta to Athens. It was the perfect house for Benny. He thrived here, and it was easier for me too because he needed only occasional assistance getting around. My Atlanta condo was up a flight of stairs, and Benny could no longer handle those stairs. By the time I sold the condo, I was carrying him up and down several times a day. It was hard on both of us, so we were happy to be in a house that suited us better.

 

In early January this year, we made our last trip to Jekyll Island. I wondered if it would be his last, but hoped he had another one in him. By mid-January I noticed changes in Benny that concerned me. A visit to the vet revealed that his kidneys were beginning to fail. I brought him home, and we enjoyed our remaining time together which revolved around sitting in the sun and making food that Benny would eat. I prepared all his food from fresh ingredients, and he seemed to enjoy the cooking as much as he did the eating, waiting patiently at my feet. This went well at first, but as his condition progressed, it was harder to find food that he could tolerate. Benny, who had always had a ravenous appetite, became a picky eater in his last weeks. But he always at least tried to eat what I prepared. We both did our best. On the evening of February 29, Benny’s suffering was apparent. On the morning of March 1, I let him go. 

 

Benny was with me only eight and half years. It seems like so much longer. With hindsight, I now see clearly that Benny came to see me through a season of tremendous loss. In the years that he was with me, Mama would sustain a traumatic brain injury from which she would suffer for two and half years, requiring round the clock care, dying in October 2018. My handsome, soulful brother, at seemingly the best point in his life, would precede her in death that same year, passing in an instant, ripped from us by a massive heart attack, the seconds before his death frozen on his iphone – beautiful images of his final fishing trip. In 2022, hoping to move on, I would sell my precious cabin in the woods – the one that Jack and I built together with the help of family and friends. My stepdad would live another five years after Mama’s death, requiring increasing assistance, ultimately moving to a memory care facility where he would remain until his death this past August. 

 

Life looks very different than it did when Benny found me in 2015. Loss heaped upon loss. Benny was there for all of it, at my side. Going where I went. Visiting who I visited. Loving who I loved. Comforting me while I grieved. My ever-present, loyal companion. He was a very good boy.

 

Read about how Benny came to be mine in this post from 2015.

 

Watch this tribute video, a compilation of photos of Benny through the years.