Snoopy Passed Away

I am a new comer to this forum. I lost Snoopy (a beagle) on July 12, 2006. On that day, I opened the patio door to let Snoopy out to the backyard when I came home from work. I did a lot of work to the backyard to make sure Snoopy cannot get out from it.

The gate has an automatic closer. However, on that day, someone put a box at the gate to keep it open. After Snoopy got out to the backyard, I followed him immediately and watched him playing from the deck. After playing for a few second, he noticed the gate was open, and I noticed it at about the same time. He ran out, and I got back into the house to put on my shoes and followed him just 5 seconds later. I thought I would be running a long way to catch him back. But it was too late. Before I could run to the front of our house, I heard several loud cries from Snoopy, and those sounds hurt me like swords cutting my heart.

When I came to the front of my house, Snoopy was lying on his side not letting anyone to touch him. There was an eyewitness running to Snoopy's rescue at that time. Snoopy had been hit by the van of my next door neighbor. He was pulling his van to his driveway when I reached Snoopy. When Snoopy realized that it was me, he calmed down and lay still and breathed heavily.

I could not see any broken bones nor blood from his body. After making some quick assessments for about 30 seconds, I went back to the house to get his big pillow. Bystanders helped me to put him on the pillow without moving his body. Someone offered to drive me to the vet, so I took Snoopy to the back seat and sat beside him.

On the way to the vet, Knowing the pain that Snoopy was in, I could not calm myself down. The vet is about 5 minutes' drive from my house. After about 2 minutes, I realized that I should watch for Snoopy's vital signs. He was not breathing. Tears came out from my eyes immediately. I don't know when he stopped breathing. It could be the time we put him on the pillow. I told the driver that Snoopy was not breathing. He increased his speed.

When we were at the vet, the doctor was not there but there was a nurse. I cried out loud that we had an emergency. She dropped what she was doing and looked at Snoopy. I asked her if he was dead. She told me that he looked dead. She quickly picked up a stethoscope and examined Snoopy. She confirmed that he was dead. I asked her if there is anything that she could do. She said she was sorry.

Eyewitness (also the driver) told me afterwards that Snoopy was under the wheel of the van. The van dragged him 20 feet before he got freed. I do not understand why I could not find any broken bones. How did he get up to reach the curb and saw me for the last time? It seemed to me that he was trying to get back to our house. I noticed later that the portion of my pants where Snoopy's muzzle laid was soaked with blood. There was also blood around his nose that we noticed later. I did not examine Snoopy any further before we buried him. Everyone, including my daughter was so emotional when we came back from the vet with Snoopy’s body.

I read Seakini’s story about her cat in this forum several days ago. A car also hit her cat. There were also not much visible injury. There was also blood around the nose. Does anyone know the cause of death of our pets? I know that they had internal injury. Could it be bleeding in the lungs? I know that nothing could bring him back, but I just want to know how much pain he suffered.

I had to pull my wisdom tooth 3 days later. The next day I had a fever and suffered pain. I bargained with God that I would not take any pain killer. I asked God that the extra pain that I suffered would be subtracted from the pain Snoopy suffered. I remembered Snoopy went quite peacefully on my lap.

I just hope that I will see Snoopy again on my way to heaven. Meanwhile I have to do well to earn my passage to the place he went.