Facing Farewell*,
by Julie Reck, DVM (Dogwise, 2012, 70 pages, $11.95)
Saying ‘Goodbye’ to your pet after a lifetime of memories: How
and when. . . .
A Book You Need to
Get Before You Need to Get It
Rarely does a dog book come along with the potential to help
so many people (and dogs) as Facing
Farewell can. The end-of-life decision that we often have to make for our
dogs is never easy, sometimes paralyzing - even verging on the traumatic - and
always comes too soon but Dr. Julie Reck’s book goes a long way towards putting
your mind at ease, helping you make this difficult final decision by explaining
the procedure and including worksheets for planning ahead. To call this book
exceptional is an understatement.
The Most Difficult
Part of Living with a Dog: Saying Goodbye
More than half of all American families have dogs and, since
dogs have shorter lifespans than we do, most of us have to face the decision of
goodbye but how and when are questions that can tear us apart at the time and
lead us to second guess for quite a while afterwards.
A Little Book to
Savor. . .
From the memorable cover to the delightful dedication to the
“Commitment” pledge to the lovely quotes and meaningful photos to the useful worksheets
in the appendix and throughout, Facing
Farewell is almost a workbook in itself to help you make advanced decisions
you can live with, not easily perhaps but well and with compassion, because you
have thought things through beforehand. Your decisions will be made in plenty
of time, with knowledge, care, consideration, concern, and kindness for your
dog.
. . . in Five Short Chapters
– Just the Right Length
Dr. Reck begins her book comparing our concept of life and
death, living and dying, with that of our dogs’ – they feel pain but have no
concept of death. A worksheet in this chapter helps us understand our life
cycle and life span in relationship with our dogs and how quickly they age. For
example, Sam came to me at age 7, so, being a golden retriever, he was about 63
human years old when he came into my life to live with me.
Chapter two explains the euthanasia procedure and choices,
as well as decisions afterwards in layman’s detail. Reck put this chapter up
front, believing that knowledge and understanding will help us cope better and
make more appropriate decisions later. By focusing on the practical, the client
can then work through the emotional more easily and wisely. Although I am one
to need the facts and details and can understand the science and medicine, I also
see some readers skipping or postponing this chapter and still keeping Facing Farewell on their bookshelf as a
constant available resource. Reck writes this chapter and the entire book with
warmth, understanding and calming acceptance of her clients.
But, How Will I Know
When. . . ?
We want to relieve our animals of as much pain as we can
whenever we can. We love them – we feed them, walk them, play with them, and
take care of their health to the best of our ability. We want to protect them
from pain just as we want the same for our children, but dogs (and cats) cannot
tell us where it hurts. As a matter of fact, they have been conditioned over
generations to hide their pain.
Pain is the subject of chapter three: how to recognize it in
the head area, the body and limbs, and the hind end and tail of both dogs and
cats. A body chart of both animals is shown with symptoms for each body part.
Also included are assessment sheets to fill out periodically so comparisons can
be made: e.g., “Is my pet in more pain now than he was two weeks ago?”
Three Categories of
Best Friend
In the fourth chapter, Dr. Reck takes up the cases of young
pets with serious medical issues, senior pets with terminal illnesses, and
senior pets in general with charts to help you assess your sick or senior
pet’s quality of life, again with several copies to help you determine the
direction of change, if any.
The appendix contains additional worksheets and
questionnaires to fill out with your veterinarian’s information, as well as
space for memories of your best friend. Dr. Reck also includes questions we may
not have thought about.
Top Five
Facing Farewell
may just be the best twelve dollars I have ever spent! It’s on my list of Five All-Time
Best Dog Books. Put it on your list, too.
*Although Facing
Farewell is reviewed here as a dog book, it also pertains to our favorite
felines, and contains sections and worksheets on cats.
Also of note (to be
reviewed in the future): When Your
Dog has Cancer: Making the Right Decisions for You and Your Dog, by Lola
Bell (available through the same publisher, Dogwise, at www.dogwise.com)
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