Goodbye Romeo

 This is a sad post to make. I really am sad today. Tuesday night when I got home, Ronnie had fed all of the animals so I asked about Romeo. He said Romeo had started having diarrhea again and he was unable to get up anymore. I was trying to stay positive since he had been fighting for so long. I went out and sat with him for awhile. He was unable to get up but I picked him up and he was able to stand. He was up eating when I left him. I told him I loved him and hugged his neck. I work up at 4:30 am with a sinking feeling and an urgency to go check on him but I ended up falling back asleep thinking I was dreaming. Ronnie came in and told me he was leaving for work at 4:45am. I still didn’t get up. I kept thinking I need to get up and check but I didn’t. I am not a morning person and Ronnie has already fed. I didn’t ask about Romeo. When I finally got up, I needed to hurry and get ready to go to work, I had to be at work at 7:30am. I had a sinking feeling all day. When I pulled in the driveway from work, I knew Romeo was gone. I put off checking because I already knew. I fed the dogs, then the chickens, then the pigs. The other goats and donkeys were on the back field. I finally got up my nerve and went to where Romeo was. Sure enough, he had passed away. I was heartbroken. I am still heartbroken. Romeo had fought and fought for months with diarrhea. We tried working and we tried coccidiosis meds. We tried supplements and electrolytes. He was skin and bones and dehydrated. I feel like we did what we could. He fought and we fought with him. I think he finally gave up. I called Ronnie to let him know what had happened. We both had the same feeling during the day but he had not checked on Romeo that morning either so he didn’t bother him. He did say that all of the animals were lined up around the pen he was in that morning, so at least he wasn’t alone. Romeo was the sweetest thing. He loved being loved on. He wanted attention. He loved everyone. He will truly be missed. I need to remember that he is not suffering anymore, but my heart is still broken.