Satch Gone

I wanted to share this story of our pet Bichon Poo named Satch. My wife found him in 1996. She called me at work one day and said she thought she was going crazy. She went to a local pet store and fell in love with a puppy. She never had a dog before but she said she had an instant connection with him unlike any other dogs she saw before. We went back that night and bought him. For the last twelve years he was a pleasure and a part of the family. He had a great disposition and personality and was always at my wife's side. When she wasn't home Satch would wait by the window for her to return. He would follow her all over the house. They were very close and I was dreading the day something happened to him.
One night last week he spat up blood. We brought him to the vet the next day who said it was probably from his gum disease. They took his blood and found that he was anemic. They gave him antibiotics and we scheduled a teeth cleaning. The blood spitting stopped but his condition worsened over the next two days. He started having seizures on Sunday and we brought him in Monday. The Vet took Xrays and saw his heart and liver were enlarged. He saw no tumors but wanted to do an ECG and ultrasound the next day. That night he wasn't him self and was ignoring both of us when we called his name. He was avoiding eye contact with us which never happened before. Then a very strange thing happened. At 7:30PM he got up from the foot of the bed and walked over to my wife (which took a great deal of effort) layed down put his head on her chest looked up at her. My wife looked at me and said "He's going to die now" I was in shock and looked at her and said "How do you know?" and she said "I just know". I thought she was being paranoid but a few seconds later his breating became heavy and I realized she was right. I called the my kids in who were both home (they are 20 and 17 now and usually they aren't home most nights). What happened over the next few minutes will stay with me forever. He looked right at me and his breathing slowed until he was gone.
It was one of the most intense and emotionally heartbreaking experiences I've ever had but at the same time uplifting the way it happened. It was if Satch knew this was going to happen and waited for the right time to pass away and cause the least pain. He will be missed forever.