Saying Goodbye

Bill and I's beloved iguana, Stinky, is no longer with us. I knew at some point this day would happen, but I thought it would be a few more years so I think that's why it hurts that much more. When we returned from our trip to Germany I noticed he wasn't really eating, was hanging out in parts of his house that he normally doesn't go and had lost weight. I immediately called the vet and in the meantime Stinky and I hung out outside - this perked him up a little but not enough. The next morning we went to the vet and he really didn't protest to the poking and prodding so I knew something was wrong. I left him to get xrays and blood work. X-rays just showed a lot of gas, nothing significant. I picked him up after they had given him fluids and some food and he wasn't much better. I started to prepare myself for the worst. The next morning we got the call from the vet and his blood work was all off - nothing was within normal levels - all pointing towards the kidneys. They were shutting down and quickly. Since Stinky was appearing to be worse that morning despite the fluids and the banana he ate the night before (his absolute fave thing to eat) I knew there was only one option. So me balling like a baby we took Stinky back to the vet to be put down. Having worked at a vet hospital during college - I have always been on the other side of seeing someone putting their animal down. It hurt as much as I thought it would now being on the owner side of the situation. His ashes will be sprinkled over an apple orchard somewhere.

I will deeply miss my Stinky-poo and will never forget all the times he couldn't figure out that I wasn't a female iguana and he tried to mate with me and when we moved down to Georgia my plan that he would quietly sit in the back window for 6 hours would go horribly array somewhere on 85S.