Taffy and the Blessing of Heaven's Pets

Taffy was a fifteen year old miniature dachshund. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with a tumor in her jaw. For months we tried to make her comfortable with pain medication. This worked for a while. On December 31, 2012, she developed trouble breathing and we were forced to euthanize her to end her suffering.

Let me tell you about Taffy. She weighed 14 pounds before this illness robbed her of her health. She weighed 9 lbs. when her life ended. She ate very well before and by the end had no appetite at all. I gave her whatever she wanted that I could get down her, which wasn’t much. I worried incessantly about her and felt I hurt her almost more than helped when I was forced to give her pain pills. She suffered so with the pain in her jaw.

She was always doing these rubbing her back on the floor motions that we started calling snoopy-snoops. She never let us too far from sight and the words bye-bye would have her excited and jumping to be picked up so she could go with us in the car. She was barely able to sustain walking by the end. She would wobble as she tried to make it from one part of the room to the other.

Still when the time came, I doubted whether I was making the right decision. Perhaps I will never feel true peace about it. It would be so easy if she could tell me what she wanted me to do. I had to trust that while there was no perfect solution, there was a most right. The most right was to end her suffering and let her be at peace

I found a place called Heaven’s Pets. They were a lifeline for me and my broken heart. They offered services to give Taffy a service fit for the special dog that she was. I set up to have Taffy cremated and they picked her up from the vet clinic that did her euthanasia. I picked her cremains up two days later at the office located at Lakelawn of Metairie. In the package there were her remains in a sealed bag, placed into a sachet bag and then placed in the urn. Attached to the sachet was her identifying coin with her number that followed her from the time they picked up her body. In a separate document sized envelope, I received a small sachet bag with a plastic resealing bag with some of Taffy’s hair, two poems, and a certificate for Taffy that had a date of birth as well as her date of death. We had an ink print made of her nose and paw print to be used later if we wanted to have jewelry made with her unique prints.

All in all, I was very pleased with the way Heaven’s Pets in Metairie, Louisiana handled my treasured pet’s final goodbyes. Located on their website is a place to type in an obituary for your beloved pet and upload a picture. Also included in the package was bereavement counseling. I chose to have my pet’s cremains returned to me, but there are packages available that allow the pet owner to have the pet cremated and have their remains scattered there on the premises at the Heaven’s Pets section of Lakelawn of Metairie. I was unaware of any of these services being offered for pet owners. My mind was put at ease by the care that Heaven’s Pets took with Taffy. If you find yourself faced with a similar situation and want to provide a dignified and meaningful final goodbye, check out the link to their website below.

www.heavenspets.com